SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #642 (9), Tuesday, February 6, 2001
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TITLE: Heat Crisis Topples Energy Minister
AUTHOR: By Igor Semenenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Heads started rolling Monday over a months-long heating crisis in the Far East with President Vladimir Putin firing the energy minister and announcing the resignation of the Primorye governor.
 Putin also ordered his chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin, to raise the issue of management conduct at the next board meeting of state-controlled power giant Unified Energy Systems, a move that could spell the ouster of UES head Anatoly Chubais. Voloshin is the government's representative to UES.
 Opening a government meeting Monday, Putin called for "tough personnel decisions" to tackle the Far East power shortage while acknowledging that "looking for scapegoats is pointless."
 Putin then announced that he had demanded the resignation of Energy Minister Alexander Gavrin and signed a corresponding decree accusing the minister of "a chronic inability to solve the sector's problems."
 "I raised the issue of the energy minister's resignation and minister Gavrin made the corresponding declaration," Putin told ministers in televised remarks.
 Gavrin is the first minister to be fired by Putin in his one-year presidency.
 Putin also told the ministers that he had spoken by telephone with Primorye Gov, Yevgeny Nazdratenko about the chronic shortage of power in the Far East region Monday morning and accepted his resignation.
 The Kremlin has repeatedly ordered regional officials to restore power supplies to Primorye, where tens of thousands of residents have been left without heat in the region's coldest winter in 50 years. The crisis started early in November as temperatures dropped to minus 50 degrees Celsius in some areas. Decrepit heating pipes then burst, forcing residents to use electric heaters. The huge demand for electricity, in turn, drained what power supplies the region had.
 Putin sent Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu several times to the Far East to try to sort out the crisis.
 Then last week, the president declared that both local and federal authorities were to blame for the shortage, singling out the Energy Ministry, the Primorye administration and UES.
 Putin told the government's representative to UES - Kremlin Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin - at the government meeting Monday "to strengthen the management team in the company" at a UES meeting set for April 28.
 Observers said the order could be a sign that Putin is giving Chubais two months to get his act together.
 "It appears that Putin is sending Chubais a signal to put the house in order by the end of April," said Hartmut Jacob, vice president of Renaissance-Capital. "After all, the story is about people freezing in winter. Who is to be blamed is less of an issue."
 Should Chubais push to solve the power problem in the Far East, he may keep his job, Jacob said.
 "I don't think Putin is unhappy about Chubais to the extent that he is going to sack him," he said.
 Chubais, who has faced speculation about his dismal several times before, said Monday he was willing to accept any decision regarding his post.
 "The president is entitled to make any personnel changes in the UES management team," Chubais told reporters Monday, Interfax reported. 
 The fresh pressure is bearing down on Chubais just days after a UES board meeting agreed to amend the company charter to allow the CEO to be fired by a simple majority vote instead of a 75 percent vote.
 It was not clear Monday who would be tapped to steer the Energy Ministry after Gavrin, who had held the post for eight months.
 Market sources pointed to Deputy Energy Minister Alexei Miller as a likely successor. Miller, 39, hails from St. Petersburg, where he worked from 1990 to 1996 as deputy head of City Hall's foreign relations committee. Putin, who chaired that committee, brought Miller into the Energy Ministry in July 2000.
 Miller refused to comment Monday.
 But it will be a weakened ministry that awaits the next minister. Without specifying details, Putin on Monday ordered that more responsibilities be taken out of the Energy Ministry's control.
 "The Fuel Ministry has lost such a share of its playground in recent months that it does not really matter who heads it," said Steven Dashevsky, oil and gas analyst with Aton brokerage.
 Meanwhile, former deputy natural resources minister Valentin Shelepov was appointed a deputy fuel minister on Monday.

TITLE: No Seasonal Let-up From Basement Biters
AUTHOR: By John Varoli
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Battling St. Petersburg's viscious, blood-sucking mosquitoes is a summer problem. Right?
 To the annoyance and desperation of some St. Petersburg residents, the battle does not, in fact, end with the onset of colder weather. Even though temperatures have in recent days plunged to almost minus 25 degrees Celsius, the infamous "basement mosquitoes" are still thriving and causing sleepless, buzzing nights for the inhabitants of hundreds of city buildings.
 "It started a week ago," said a woman who gave her name only as Marina, and who lives on Bolshoi Prospect on the Petrograd Side. "At first, when I heard the buzzing, I thought I was really going crazy because I couldn't believe I had mosquitoes at home when it was so cold outside."
 "Then when I woke up, I saw my child had multiple mosquito bites on his face and hands."
 "So I went to Gostinny Dvor to buy tablets for the fumigator, but the salesman only laughed and asked if I needed a doctor," Marina said. 
 "I don't know where these mutant mosquitoes come from, but regular sprays such as Raid don't kill them, and they bite at least five times a night."
 Marina is not alone. According to a report issued on Friday by the federal watchdog, the State Sanitary and Epidemic Inspectorate (Gossanepidnadzor), about 1,200 residential city buildings are infested with mosquitoes, and winter does little to curb their appetites.
 Lydia Shurigina, head of the parasitology department at the Health Office of the Petrograd and Primorsky district, said that basement mosquitoes have the ability to spread dangerous diseases, such as hemorrhage fever, which sometimes appear in the south of Russia.
 This type of disease has a number of strains, such as the infamous Ebola virus, which can make the victim bleed to death. So far, however, no cases have been reported in St. Petersburg, Shurigina said.
 She added that those worrying about malaria need not fear, since the basement mosquitoes are not carriers.
 While residents like to speak of mutant mosquitoes who have adapted to the cold, in fact they make an appearance thanks to poor housing maintenance. Leaky pipes in basements provide the damp environment mosquitoes need to reproduce, and in winter, if buildings are sufficiently heated, there is little obstacle to a year-round existence.
 Culex molestus, the Latin name for the basement mosquito, is quite different from its country cousin, pipiens pipiens, and feeds between five and seven times a night because it need not drink its fill to begin the reproduction cycle, said Shurigina.
 "A little bit of blood is sufficient, and so it keeps going back for more until its appetite is satisfied," she said. "The basement mosquito has adapted to urban conditions," where easy prey is not always available, and where people are more able to defend themselves than animals in the wilderness.
 According to Shurigina, about 16 percent of the buildings on the Petrograd Side are infested, but that figure has declined twofold since the late 1980s. In Soviet times, all property was in state hands and so building neglect was greater since there were no concerned owners. Now, as cafes and stores open, the owners clean out the basements.
 But many still go neglected.
 "Over the past five years there has been a failure to keep basements dry, which would be sufficient to put an end to the mosquitoes," said Galina Orlova, spokesperson for the Sanitary and Epidemic Inspectorate.
 She added that many district housing authorities, known by the Russian initials ZhEK, fail to spray all their buildings and the results is "an increase in the mosquito population and other carriers of infectious diseases."
 According to the center's data, the worst affected areas in the city are the Frunzensky and Central districts, followed by the Pushkinsky, Admiralteisky, and Moskovsky districts. The Petrograd Side tied in seventh place with Vasilevsky Island.
 In the case of Marina's house, the sudden increase in the mosquito population was caused by a hot water pipe that burst two weeks ago.
 Residents said that water poured out continuously for almost a fortnight, and the stairwell at times resembled a sauna as hot steam billowed out of the basement.
 Only this weekend did the ZhEK finally send repairmen.
 After the last water has been pumped out, the basement will have to be sprayed. As usual, solving the problem comes down to money. Spraying a basement costs around $180, and the ZhEK must contract the work out to another state-owned company. Often, however, the ZhEK is unwilling to meet the cost, according to Shurigina, whose job it is to oversee the work.
 "Gossanepnadzor can do the job to fight these mosquitoes, but City Hall doesn't provide us with the funds it should be providing," said Orlova.

TITLE: Mirilashvili Transferred to Kresty Cell
AUTHOR: By Masha Kaminskaya
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Prosecutors on Friday brought official charges against three close aides to Mikhail Mirilashvili, a prominent St. Petersburg-based businessman, who they say were his accomplices in the kidnapping he allegedly organised last September.
 Mirilashvili was himself arrested two weeks ago. On Friday, he was transferred to the pre-trial ward of the infamous Kresty prison. Yury Novolodsky, Mirilashvili's lawyer, said he was afraid that his client would be put into an ordinary cell, most of which are overcrowded.
 Apart from Mirilashvili, Yevgeny Kazmirchuk, his chief security guard, Andrei Demyenko, deputy general director of the Conti Group - a chain of casinos belonging to Mirilashvili - and Viktor Petrov, Conti's security chief, are now under arrest, with three more Mirilashvili employees also in detention.
 Prosecutors are charging that Mirilashvili organized the abduction of two local businessmen in revenge for the kidnapping of his father, which had taken place several weeks earlier.
 However, Novolodsky has repeatedly claimed the charges are too vague, while prominent local citizens keep demanding Mirilashvili's release on bail or a guarantee that he will not leave the city.
 Novolodsky took part in a press conference on Monday held by actor Mikhail Svetin, composer Andrei Petrov and the heads of several city orphanages to which Mirilashvili is said to have given financial support.
 Svetin and Petrov said that Mirilashvili's conviction would be a great loss to the city. "Just think how much he has done for the city. Why not let him out and let him continue to work? He won't run away," said Petrov.
 "No one will persuade me that Mikhail [Mirilashvili] kidnapped anyone," said Svetin.
 Another demonstration took place outside the City Prosecutor's Office on St. Isaac's Square on Friday, Interfax said. About 400 people waved banners accusing prosecutors of repressive methods.
 About 10 people, led by Vyacheslav Marychev, head of the local branch of the Trudovaya Rossiya party, or Working Russia, led a counter-demonstration, Interfax reported. The agency said this second party was seen waving anti-Semitic slogans, but was asked to leave by police.
 Mirilashvili is the deputy head of the Russian Jewish Congress.

TITLE: Rumors Aplenty Accompany Rise of New Voloshin Deputy
AUTHOR: By Ana Uzelac
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - A former property manager of the Prosecutor General's Office - who has been plagued by allegations of corruption and insider power-brokering - has been appointed a deputy to presidential Chief of Staff Alexander Voloshin.
 Nazir Khapsirokov, who became Vo lo shin's deputy as of Thursday, joined the prosecutor's office in 1993 and served as head of its property department until resigning last August. After leaving the prosecutor's office, Khapsirokov, 49, went on to work with the Moscow-based Mezhdunarodny Pro mysh lenny Bank, or International Industrial Bank, according to press reports. But his role at the bank is unclear. 
 "His climb up the bureaucratic ladder was accompanied by scandals and criminal cases connected with the companies he ran," the Kremlin-connected Strana.ru Web site wrote. "Nevertheless, he stayed unmarred and the rumors - remained rumors."
 But the rumors abounded. 
 Kommersant reported that Khapsirokov's resignation from the prosecutor's office was linked to suspicions that he had accepted a $1 million bribe for hushing up a probe into corruption by a high-ranking government official. 
 Novaya Gazeta wrote that during his tenure with the prosecutor's office, Khapsirokov, a philologist by training, managed to receive a law degree and rise to the rank of general in less than half the time such a process would normally take. 
 Press reports have said he played an important role in getting Vladimir Ustinov appointed prosecutor general last year. Many observers called Ustinov's appointment a victory for Voloshin. But Vedomosti on Friday cited an unnamed source in the presidential administration as saying that the Kremlin has been worried about Ustinov's overzealous pursuit of politically sensitive cases - such as Media-MOST - and that Khapsirokov could be a restraining force.
 Khapsirokov was not available for comment Friday. The presidential press service confirmed his appointment on Friday.
 Former Prosecutor General Yury Skuratov, suspended amid scandal in 1999, said Khapsirokov was the one to bring him the news of his imminent dismissal. Skuratov was then investigating several cases of government corruption, including allegations that Kremlin property chief Pavel Borodin had accepted kickbacks from Swiss construction firms in exchange for contracts to renovate the Kremlin. Borodin is now in a U.S. prison facing extradition to Switzerland on money-laundering charges.
 The director of Mabetex, one of the Swiss firms named in the Borodin probe, claimed it was Khapsirokov's bank that helped issue to credit cards for the family of former President Boris Yeltsin. 
 Skuratov said he was "unpleasantly surprised" by the news that his former colleague had resumed his career in government. "People with such a reputation should not be working for the government," he said in a telephone interview.

TITLE: Plan for New LAES Reactor Announced
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Nuclear energy officials have announced a $1 billion project to construct a safe and technologically advanced reactor at the Leningrad Atomic Power Station, or LAES, the Northwest region's biggest energy supplier. 
 Officials, however, said that groundbreaking for the new reactor at LAES - located 60 kilometers to St. Petersburg's west - could be as far as four years off, given financial difficulties. 
 The new reactor - called a VVER-640 - would differ significantly in construction from the four reactors currently in use at LAES, which are of the notorious Chernobyl-style RBMK 1000, said Rudolf Filin, deputy director of the northwest branch of the Nuclear Ministry's Nuclear Technology Institute, or NITI, which commissioned the reactor. 
 Over time, the new reactors would replace the RBMK-1000s, which have long exceeded their 30-year life expectancy. 
 According to Filin, VVER-640s are the Russian analog to the Advanced Power-600, currently in use throughout North America. 
 Filin added that though the VVER-640's output of 640 megawatts was lower than that of the current RBMK-1000's, "it's safer than any other reactor existing in Russia today." 
 But construction plans have run up against a brick wall. The project - which began in 1998 and was initially financed by Rosenergoatom, which has a near monopoly on reactor construction in Russia - has run out of funding. It was also to receive money from the state budget. 
 Since that time, according to a posting by NITI's director, Vyacheslav Va si len ko, the project has received only five percent of the cash promised to build the reactor. Vasilenko, in further remarks, predicted construction wouldn't begin until 2005. 
 Meanwhile, Filin said NITI was looking for foreign sponsorship, possibly from the German electronics giant Siemens.
 Sergei Averyanov, spokesman for LAES, said the station has meanwhile been paying the workers and had recently given them 10 million rubles in salaries to remain on site. 
 In the meantime, Averyanov, said, LAES' only choice is to keep renovating its deteriorating reactors.

TITLE: Nazdratenko's Iron Rule Comes to an End
AUTHOR: By Ana Uzelac
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The seemingly invincible governor of the Primorye region, Yev geny Nazdratenko, submitted a letter of resignation to President Vladimir Putin on Monday, less than a week after the president blamed him for the crippling energy crisis in the Far East region.
 Nazdratenko handed in his resignation shortly after a phone call from Putin.
 "The president called this afternoon ... and during the course of the conversation the governor made his decision to resign," Nazdratenko's spokesman Alexei Kazakov said in a phone interview from Vladivostok.
 The presidential press service confirmed Putin had received the letter and said the resignation would most likely be accepted: "Why not, after all, it was the president who wanted to see Nazdratenko resign," a spokeswoman, who did not give her name, said by phone.
 Last week, the president lashed out at the culprits responsible for leaving thousands of Primorye residents with intermittent electricity and heating for almost six months - Nazdratenko's administration, the Energy Ministry and power monopoly Unified Energy Systems. 
 Their negligence and inadequate response to the problem, the president said, emptied the region's schools and factories and left thousands sleeping in their coats and chipping ice off the walls of their darkened apartments.
 Energy Minister Alexander Gav rin also resigned Monday as a result of the power crisis.
 Several analysts linked the timing of Nazdratenko's resignation to a law allowing the president to suspend regional leaders in the event of a criminal investigation against them, which came into effect Thursday. Now that Putin has the option of using the new powers conferred on him by the law, Nazdratenko could have been forced to choose between voluntary resignation and criminal prosecution.
 Nazdratenko resigned from his hospital bed, where he was taken with heart problems last week, on the day he was to come to Moscow to report on the crisis to Putin and fellow regional leaders. His press secretary said at the time the governor had fallen ill because he "took people's suffering too close to heart."
 Spokespeople both for the president and Nazdratenko refused to disclose the governor's official reason for resigning. Kazakov said he would give an official statement Tuesday.
 Nazdratenko has been accused by critics of mismanaging Primorye's heating and power systems virtually since his appointment as regional leader in 1993. 
 Lately, Primorye's power sector has been stuck in a cycle of fuel shortages and mutual debt. Power suppliers say they are owed so much money that they cannot pay producers; producers, in turn, are too cash-strapped to pay for fuel; so fuel suppliers are at a stand-still. Although most of the debt is owed by state-run institutions, UES's local subsidiaries have also shut off power to residential areas, factories and schools.
 For over four months, UES and the regional government have been finger-pointing and bickering over who's to blame. UES has accused Nazdratenko of not paying over $120 million in debt to the power grid and of large-scale negligence that led to the destruction of the supply network. Nazdratenko has accused UES, the Cabinet and the media of conspiring to unseat him.
 The problem has been snowballing for years and months, but residents say this winter's crisis became "the worst since World War II," as Primorye's chronic problems were exacerbated by the record-breaking cold that has hit much of Siberia and the Far East.
 Nazdratenko's once unquestionable popularity began to drop as people took to the streets and called for his resignation. But the charismatic 52-year-old governor still had many residents convinced he was their only defense against a voracious federal center eager to rob the region of its riches.
 "I have no idea if he [Nazdratenko] is right or wrong," said Natalya Syuzyumova, a 37-year-old beautician. "I get information from the newspapers, and they might not be giving me a full picture. What is obvious [is that] he can resist the central power [in Moscow]."
 During more than seven years in office, Nazdratenko ruled the region with an iron hand, leaving a political wasteland: Critics said he had quashed practically all political dissent and brutally suppressed the press, while forging a community of bureaucrats and businessmen working for each other's profit. 
 Nazdratenko was often accused of using strong-arm tactics in business dealings as well. 
 In 1999, Nazdratenko-backed managers took control of Vostoktransflot, a Vla divostok-based refrigerator shipping firm, ejecting the previous manager. The ousted manager's legal adviser was later killed by a bomb planted under her bed at her dacha. Last year, a judge who had ruled against Nazdratenko's allies on numerous occasions, including the Vostoktransflot case, was stripped of her title on corruption charges.
 Boris Reznik, a State Duma deputy from the neighboring Khabarovsk region who often criticized the governor, called Primorye a "bandit's nest" in a phone interview Monday. "It was one of the most corrupt regions in the country," he said. "The fuel crisis was just a consequence."
 Nazdratenko will be replaced by his first deputy, Konstantin Tolstosheyin, until new elections in three months.

TITLE: Fury Rises Over Case Of Drunk Diplomat
AUTHOR: By David Ljunggren
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: OTTAWA - Canada's opposition is accusing the Foreign Ministry of incompetence in the case of a Russian diplomat who knocked down and killed an Ottawa woman, saying civil servants had totally mishandled the affair. 
 Chuck Strahl, chief whip of the Canadian Alliance party, said Friday that the driving record of Russian diplomat Andrei Knyazev in Canada was so bad that he should have been expelled years ago. Knya zev, who was recalled to Mos cow a week ago, is accused of killing one pedestrian and severely injuring another in a drunken driving accident. 
 "He should not have been on the road where he killed someone last week. If our ministry had done their job, that guy would have been out of the country," Strahl told reporters. 
 The ministry said last week that no criminal charges were being drawn up against Andrei Knyazev, even though Russia had promised Canada that the diplomat would be tried under Russian law.
 It subsequently emerged that police had twice investigated Knya zev for drunken driving in 1999 and tried to suspend his license for 90 days after an incident in July that year. 
 But because police detained and handcuffed Knyazev - in a breach of rules for dealing with diplomats - the Foreign Ministry returned the license to the Russian Embassy with an apology. 
 "The department of foreign affairs, instead of apologizing for the actions of our police, should have said, 'We find the actions of your diplomat unacceptable,' and they should have got the Russians to kick him out," said Strahl. 
 Strahl urged the victims' families to sue the ministry. 
 Foreign Minister John Manley, who has ordered a probe into whether the ministry knew Knyazev had a history of drunken driving and what action should now be taken, expressed frustration over the handling of the case. 
 "I'm surprised that we were not able to collect all the relevant information as quickly as would have been desirable. We have found files in various places and that is not a situation that I am happy with," Manley said to reporters. 
 Don Campbell, deputy foreign minister when Knyazev was detained in 1999, said no one had told him about the case at the time. "To the best of my knowledge, it was not brought to my attention and I would have remembered something like that," he said. 
 The official who would have dealt with the case, protocol chief Alain Dudoit, is now Ca na da's ambassador to Spain. 
 In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry said Russia's ambassador to Canada, Vitaly Chur kin, had visited the families of the woman who died after being hit by Knyazev's car, Catherine MacLean, and her friend, who was badly injured. 
 "They were given personal letters from the Russian foreign minister, in which [Igor] Ivanov expressed his condolences and his deep sympathy over this tragic incident," the ministry said in a statement.
 A Russian embassy driver, also suspected of drunk driving, crashed his car Saturday in a separate incident and was recalled to Moscow with Knyazev. Both men had attended an ice-fishing party before the accidents.

TITLE: Moscow Station Hit by Bomb Blast
AUTHOR: By Daniel Mclaughlin
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - A small bomb exploded in one of Moscow's busiest underground railway stations during rush hour on Monday, injuring up to nine people and causing minor damage.
 Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who had urged people to be alert after a bomb killed 12 people in a metro station tunnel last August, called the latest blast at the Belorusskaya underground station, "a 100 percent terrorist act."
 The August 2000 blast was at first linked to Chechen rebels fighting Russia's forces, although officials later said it might have been part of a turf war between criminal gangs.
 The Prosecutor General's Office was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying it had opened a criminal investigation into Monday's blast. The FSB said it had also launched a probe. Rescue workers said the blast at Belorusskaya station, a key point on one of the capital's busiest lines, was caused by some kind of explosive device a few minutes before the peak rush hour time of 7 p.m.
 A spokesman for the Moscow civil defense service said nine people had been injured, of whom seven had been taken to hospital. A spokeswoman for the Moscow city rescue service had earlier said five people were injured, including two children.
 "There was no fire and the station was not badly damaged," rescue worker Ilya Liubinsky told Reuters Television.
 The Moscow rescue services spokeswoman said an explosive device had been hidden in one of the lamps lining the wall of the underground passage where the blast took place.
 The blast caused little disruption for commuters as underground railway lines continued operating, although they were not stopping at the station where the explosion occurred.

TITLE: Disillusioned Boldyrev Leaves Post at Federal Audit Chamber
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Yury Boldyrev has decided not to seek reappointment to his post as deputy head of the Audit Chamber, saying parliament's budgetary watchdog has lost its teeth as a corruption fighter and has become an instrument of the presidential administration.
 Boldyrev, a native of St. Petersburg, complained that President Vladimir Putin's changes to the structure of the Federation Council and the rise of the pro-Putin Unity party in the State Duma have given the president a docile parliament, which will not support independent investigations if they are unwanted by the Kremlin.
 "The State Duma that backed the Audit Chamber in the past as a controlling body independent of the executive powers, of the president, does not exist any more," Boldyrev said in a telephone interview Thursday. 
 "Before, we were working in some opposition to the executive power. But it looks like that time is over." 
 Boldyrev handed in his resignation on Jan. 17 after the expiration of his six-year term, saying there was no point continuing to work with the chamber after the parliament had become "tame." 
 He had had the option of applying for reappointment, subject to confirmation by the Federation Council. 
 The Audit Chamber was created in 1994 by the parliament to make sure budget funding was spent properly by state-controlled organizations. 
 Last year it was taken over by former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, who promised to crack down on corruption.
 Boldyrev has long complained that the Audit Chamber's reports have been routinely disregarded. The chamber can turn its findings over to prosecutors but is powerless to mete out punishment itself. 
 Stepashin himself has also called for an expansion of the chamber's powers.
 Boldyrev called the appointment of his successor, Alexander Semikolennykh - the former deputy head of the presidential administration's audit department - a sign that the chamber has effectively become a branch of executive power.
 Meanwhile, in an effort to open up to the public, the Audit Chamber launched its Web site Thursday.
 The Russian-language site (www.ach. gov.ru) is still a work in progress. It posts photos of Stepashin and staff auditors, titles of recent reports, agreements between the chamber and other law enforcement bodies and a media digest. But it gives neither the text of the chamber's reports nor information on the number of court cases opened as a result of the chamber's investigations.
 In an Internet conference about the launch, Stepashin said the chamber's monthly reports will be available as of Monday.
 Stepashin said 40 reports about the chamber's investigations were submitted to the Prosecutor General's Office last year and more than 200 officials were reprimanded as a result.

TITLE: Khattab To Continue Fight Against Russian Forces
AUTHOR: By Ruslan Musayev
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: GROZNY - Huddled in a cave with a small band of fighters, one of Chechnya's most notorious warlords vowed Sunday that his outnumbered insurgents would continue their fight against Russian forces. 
 "I have no doubts as to our victory against the Russians," said the warlord Khattab, a Jordanian operating in Chech nya who goes by one name.
 "Chech nya is just a tiny territory on which Muslims are successfully fighting their enemies." 
 Khattab said that he met frequently with rebel field commander Shamil Basayev and Aslan Maskhadov, the rebel Chechen president, to devise strategies against Russia. 
 "We meet with Basayev and President Maskhadov and Vice President Vakha Arsanov to plan and coordinate our operations against the Russians," Khattab said in an interview conducted in southeastern Chechnya. 
 Khattab said the rebels were getting financial support from Muslims abroad. "There are many Muslims in the world who want to help their brothers to win this war," he said, without identifying the financial backers. "They support us in our struggle." 
 The warlord said that he viewed Chechnya as a religious war. "I'm a soldier of Islam and the war is going on and I will fight the infidels no matter where I am." 
 The numerically superior and better-equipped Russian forces have been unable to liquidate the rebels, who are skilled guerrilla fighters able to vanish into the rugged terrain of southern Chechnya. 
 Although wide-scale fighting in the war died down last spring, the rebels have kept up a bloody and demoralizing campaign of small hit-and-run attacks on Russian forces, including frequent attacks in the capital Grozny and other towns with a heavy Russian presence. 
 Russian forces withdrew from Chechnya in 1996 at the end of a 20-month war with separatist rebels, after which the republic became effectively independent as well as largely lawless. 
 The Russian military re-entered Chechnya in September 1999 after Islamic militants based there seized several villages in the neighboring Russian region of Dagestan, and after about 300 people died in apartment bombings the government blames on Chechens.

TITLE: Official Tells of Afghan Terrorist Camps
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MUNICH - A top Russian security official said on Sunday that Afghani stan was supporting about 30 "terrorist" camps aimed at training commandos as well as smuggling drugs and arms.
 "According to our information, the Taleban fighters, supported by Pakistan, have set up in Afghanistan approximately 30 training camps for terrorist commandos from Central Asian, Arab and European countries," Russian security council secretary Sergei Ivanov told a conference of defense officials in Munich.
 Last month the United Nations imposed new sanctions because of the Taleban's refusal to hand over U.S. terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden for trial over his alleged involvement in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.
 The sanctions are sponsored by Washington and Russia, which accuse him of training and supporting radical Islamic groups in Afghani stan where he lives under Taleban protection.
 The Taleban deny the charges and argue that bin Laden is innocent, as Washington has failed to prove his involvement in any terrorist acts, including the masterminding of the embassy bombings.
 Russia and ex-Soviet Central Asian states have also expressed concern that Afghanistan had increasingly become a source of drug trafficking and a training base for radical Islamist fighters.
 "A testimony of the close links between international terrorism and organized crime is the fact that Russian border guards in the year 2000 confiscated more than three tons of drugs at the Afghan-Tajik border," Iva nov said.
 "We are open for the closest cooperation to fight the global threat of terrorism," he continued. "Today the monster of terrorism reaches not only as far as Central Asia and the Philippines, its threatening breath can be felt in Europe as well."

TITLE: Psychiatrists Persecuted by Officials, Criminals
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Isachenkov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Once a feared tool for persecuting dissidents, psychiatry has itself become a victim, struggling against pressure and harassment by both officials and organized crime groups, a top forensic psychiatric expert said. 
 "It's a rare year that passes without a forensic psychiatrist being killed," said Tatyana Dmitriyeva, the director of the Serbsky Center for Forensic Psychiatry, who recalled being driven to work in an armored vehicle under protection of a SWAT team. 
 Forensic psychiatrists are the experts who judge whether a defendant is mentally fit to assume responsibility for the alleged crime he or she has committed. 
 Dmitriyeva said Friday that the 400 forensic psychiatrists working in the provinces regularly face threats from those who are unhappy with their verdicts - both local authorities and people from the underworld. 
 "Most experts live in small towns where every step is visible, and the authorities can easily put pressure on them," she said. "They receive regular threats, and have no protection at all." 
 Moscow's Serbsky Center, the top expert organization in the field, has also faced threats. Dmitriyeva said she had to arrange for armed guards after receiving a warning that a criminal organization was plotting to free one of its men held in the center.
 Security measures at the center resemble those at a maximum-security prison. After his arrest by security services, Chechen warlord Salman Ra du yev was carried from one building in the center to another in an armored vehicle for fear of snipers, Dmitriyeva said. 
 The center's experts found Raduyev fully sane after a day of tests, despite the widespread belief that several wounds to the head had resulted in mental damage. 
 "We found his skull mangled and fastened with metal plates, but his brain was intact and he had a remarkably high intellect," Dmitriyeva said.

TITLE: Kidnapped MSF Aid Worker Is Set Free
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW- U.S. aid worker Kenneth Gluck was free on Sunday after three weeks in captivity in Chechnya, saying that he had been treated well but was eager to see his family. 
 "I feel fine, I am very happy that I am no longer a prisoner," Gluck said in televised remarks at the Khankala military base outside Grozny. 
 But he also showed signs of being unsettled, saying in Russian, "I'm glad that I'm being held this day," before laughing and correcting himself: "That I'm not being held."
 Gluck, who ran the Chechnya operation for the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), was seized on Jan. 9 by masked gunmen who pulled him from his car near the town of Stariye Atagi, situated in the southern foothills of Chechnya. 
 He and fellow aid workers were on a mission to deliver medical aid. Other workers who were in the group of cars escaped.
 "I was treated well enough. I was not beaten or anything. Now I am just anxious to go home," Gluck said, standing beside a military truck, wearing a down vest in heavy snowfall. 
 He appeared to be in reasonable health and was shown on Russian television using a satellite telephone to call home. 
 Officials said the 38-year-old New Yorker was freed with no conditions and no ransom paid. 
 Alexander Zdanovich, spokesman for the Federal Security Service, said on ORT television that his forces had freed Gluck in a special operation overnight. 
 "We traced his location several days ago, but were unable to carry out an operation at the place he was being held without risk to our people, so we closely followed his movements, and when the necessary conditions were met, we made full use of our capabilities, and as a result he is here in Khan kala," he said. 
 "There were no losses among our people and no shooting at all," Zda no vich said. 
 He said that Gluck would be brought to MSF's office in the neighboring Ingushetia region if weather permitted, and that if it did not he would be spending the night on the base. 
 Spokesperson Kris Torgeson at MSF's Moscow office said: "We can confirm that Kenny has been released and is safe. We had a short telephone discussion with him today - and we know that he is being kept under safe protection by the competent Russian authorities." 
 The seizure of Gluck prompted the United Nations and nongovernmental groups working with it and the European community to suspend operations in Chechnya.
 Meanwhile, Colonel General Vale ry Manilov said Friday that there would be no dramatic withdrawal of troops from Chechnya after a presidential order to reduce the military presence.
 Manilov also said Moscow had lost more than 250 personnel in Chechnya over the last four months.
 
 - Reuters, AP

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Shoigu Blasts Leaders 
MOSCOW (AP) - Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said that governors who do not provide sufficient heat and electricity to their regions should be fired. 
 Shoigu said in Krasnoyarsk on Saturday that governors who fail to avert energy crises, like the one in the Far East, should be removed. 
 "Such governors not only can be, but must be dismissed," Shoigu said at a televised news conference. 
 The energy crisis in the Far East has left about 80,000 residents of several cities without heat for months. 

Timber Scam 

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Two Finnish entrepreneurs have been declared fugitives by St. Petersburg police for alleged fraud in a timber deal, RosBalt news agency reported.
 Finnish citizen Erike Yakko, who is the director of Peter-Polarn Timber, together with another Finnish citizen, identified in the report only as V. Olinen, the director of Yunona Timber, allegedly stole $7.7 million from a third Russian timber firm called Kondratyevskoye. Allegedly, the two Finns signed a fake contract with the Russian company and bilked it for the millions in question between June 1999 and August 2000, RosBalt reported. 
 Police also allege that Yakko forged another contract with Kondratyevskoye for $6.5 million in January 2000. 
Havel Invites Putin 
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Havel has invited President Vladimir Putin to Prague, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan said. 
 Kavan, who mentioned no date for the visit, spoke to reporters Friday after talks with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who arrived Friday. Kavan and Ivanov discussed topics including Russian debt to the Czech Republic, Czech visa requirements for Russian citizens and economic cooperation. Prague says Russia owes it about $3.5 billion.
 

Toothy Miracle 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Maria Vasilyeva is delighted that, at the tender young age of 104, she will at last be able to munch her favorite cookies - after growing three new teeth. 
 RIA news agency said Vasilyeva had become the oldest person to grow new teeth, baffling doctors in Tatarstan. 
 RIA quoted health officials as saying it was the first known case of anyone older than 100 growing new teeth. "She is just happy about it, saying she now has teeth to chew ginger cookies. Dentists are studying the exceedingly rare event," RIA said.
 

Abramovich on Visit 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Oil tycoon and recently elected Chukotka Governor Roman Abramovich made his first visit to Canada over the weekend for an unofficial get-together with local business and government officials, the Northern News Service reported.
 Abramovich went to the Northwest Territories capital, Yellowknife, which lies across the Bering Strait from Chukotka, at the invitation of Canadian architecture firm Ferguson Simek Clark, the news agency said Friday.
 "It was our idea to bring him so he sees what we do here," Stefan Simek, president of Ferguson Simek Clark, was quoted by Northern News Service as saying. "We want to build schools and houses for them, and this is the best way to sell products." Ferguson Simek Clark has worked in Chukotka for 10 years. Abramovich was also scheduled to meet with the region's premier, Stephen Kakfwi, and Yellowknife Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

TITLE: Plans for Legal Advice Hotline Announced
AUTHOR: By Masha Kaminskaya
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A new hotline project will soon give the city's lawyers the chance to expand their client base.
 Announced on Friday by several St. Petersburg lawyers and the Digital Commerce and VessoLink United paging companies, the Lawyers of St. Petersburg (Advokaty Sankt-Peterburga) information and inquiry service - which will go in the Yellow Pages under the telephone number 005 - is meant to help local citizens find that one lawyer of the many working in the city who will solve their most pressing problems. 
 The project, which is expected to start working in the first quarter of 2001, was the brainchild of Digital Commerce, which deals in mobile and electronic commerce and specializes in information projects. VessoLink, which provides services in 88 cities across Russia, will deal with the technical side of the hotline.
 "We've found a way to create a mass service that will be able immediately to meet the requirements of anyone with an urgent legal problem and doesn't know who to turn to, or doesn't have the time to find a lawyer by themselves," said Alexei Kuznetsov, director of Digital Commerce, at a meeting with the heads of several legal collegia from St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast.
 "Through this project, we also hope to come closer to [enlargening] the system of private lawyers in Russia."
 According to Kuznetsov, the hotline's operators - who will be highly educated legal specialists - will upon receiving a call listen to the gist of the caller's problem, scan through a database and find a lawyer or legal firm that specializes in the specific branch of law the problem relates to.
 The caller will then be given the name and contact information of the lawyer, or a message will be sent or the call transferred directly to the lawyer's phone. Kuznetsov added that if the lawyers agree, operators may also give out legal first aid over the phone themselves. However, at the moment the lawyers are critical of the idea.
 The hotline's organizers said that they expect foreign citizens and non-residents will also call in: Operators will be expected to know at least one foreign language.
 And - perhaps most unexpected of all, given the profession concerned - the hotline will be toll free. Apart from the cost of owning pagers, lawyers will not pay to be included in the database.
 Kuznetsov said that Digital Commerce would use its own finances to pay for the service, which he described as "a good way to expand our business."
 With 5,000 lawyers working in the city, creating the database is the most difficult task. Criteria for selecting who will be included have yet to be finalized.
 "Prominent lawyers won't need to submit their data for the database, and all the others will naturally enjoy the chance of getting more clients," said Yevgeny Semenyako, chairman of the presidium of the St. Petersburg Collegium of Lawyers.
 "We have to create some competition, so that operators do not recommend the same lawyers and legal firms again and again."

TITLE: Ivanov Issues Fresh NMD Warning
AUTHOR: By Adam Tanner
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MUNICH, Germany - Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov said Sunday that U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile system would undermine world stability and lead to a new arms race in outer space. 
 Speaking at a defense conference in Munich, Ivanov offered talks on deep cuts in strategic nuclear arms if Washington abandons its plans. 
 "The destruction of the ABM treaty will result in the annihilation of the whole structure of strategic stability and create prerequisites for a new arms race, including one in outer space," Iva nov said in remarks clearly aimed at the new administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. 
 Defense analysts say that the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and the then-Soviet Union would be breached by the new U.S. system, if and when it ever comes into force. 
 "Restraining the so-called rogue nations - to use the American terminology - may be carried out more effectively from the point of view of both expense and consequences by means of a common political effort," Ivanov said.
 "The situation in North Korea is the obvious example because the situation a year ago seemed much worse than today." 
 He spoke a day after new U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking in Munich, reiterated Washington's intention of developing a missile shield despite objections from its European allies, Russia and other nations. 
 U.S. officials have cited the threat of missile attacks from nations such as North Korea as a reason to deploy a defensive shield. 
 Ivanov held out the possibility of substantial arms control cuts if Washington drops its missile defense plans and preserves the ABM treaty limiting Russia and the United States to a single defensive missile site each. 
 Since the 1970s, only Russia has maintained such a site, which it deploys around Moscow. 
 "If the ABM treaty is maintained, Russia is ready for radical cuts with the United States of strategic offensive weapons to as low as 1,500 and even lower than this level," Ivanov told the conference. "We are also ready for an immediate start to official talks with the United States on SALT III." 
 The alternative was a dangerous arms race into space, Ivanov said, urging an international conference on preventing the militarization of outer space. 
 U.S. officials say the ABM treaty is an antiquated Cold War relic, an argument Russia rejects. "The cornerstone of strategic stability is the 1972 ABM treaty," Ivanov said.

TITLE: Governor Immunity Sought by Yakovlev
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: City Gov. Vladimir Yakovlev has offered to draft a bill ensuring governors' immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes committed in office when a governor's term of service ends.
 "If a high ranking official defends the legality and interests of his region, it is inevitable that he will have enemies who would like to settle old scores - with great pleasure - after a governor leaves office," Vladimir Yakovlev said in an Interfax interview Friday.
 "If governors were sure that they won't be left on the street and unemployed, there wouldn't be such negativity surrounding the issue."
 Yakovlev's remarks followed the Federation Council's Wednesday approval of a law that diminishes former president Boris Yeltsin's immunity from criminal prosecution for misdeeds committed in office. The law was a very watered down version of the virtually untouchable status given Yeltsin and members of his family by Vladimir Putin.
 Alexander Afanasiyev, the governor's spokesman, was quick to point out in a telephone interview Monday that Yakovlev did not mean any one governor in particular when making his statements, but that the subject "just came up while he was having a cup of tea with journalists from Interfax."
 Afanasiyev added that "the governor has no enemies."
 Yakovlev himself has not fallen under the magnifying glass of police or prosecutors during his tenure in office, though his wife and many of his high-ranking City Hall officials have been under investigation.
 Last April, a month before the 2000 gubernatorial elections, representatives of the Economic Crime Department of the Federal Interior Ministry searched the offices of a charity fund, which is run on the patronage of Irina Yakovleva, Gov. Yakovlev's wife.
 Officials said they suspected that city budget money may have been embezzled through the office's accounts, and police insisted that the searches were not politically motivated. The searches turned up nothing and no wrongdoing was discovered.
 Alexander Shishlov, Yabloko State Duma lawmaker, said that Yakovlev's preoccupation with the immunity question could jinx him in the end.
 "As the practice shows, the presence of immunity indicates that 'negativity' tends to appear around some governors," Shishlov said in a telephone interview Monday.
 Leonid Kesselman, a political analyst for the Sociological Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that Yakovlev had made a mistake in raising the question of governors' immunity.
 "If I was a governor, I wouldn't do that. If a person knows that he hasn't committed any sins, why should he be worried about it?" Kesselman said in a telephone interview Monday.
 "And again, besides immunity, there is a Swiss Prosecutor's Office, who can find just about anyone they need," Kesselman joked.

TITLE: EBRD Denies NTV Investment Offer
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - The head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said the EBRD had not been approached to participate in any investment in embattled private television station NTV. 
 "No talks have been opened by anybody with the EBRD on this," president Jean Lemierre told reporters in Berlin on Friday. "We have no project. We are not working on this." 
 However, last week an EBRD official said in a phone interview that the bank had held preliminary talks with a group of Western investors negotiating to buy a stake in NTV. The official, who asked not to be identified, said the bank was being cautious about any deals involving NTV because of the heated battle between the station and its state-controlled creditor, Gazprom.
 Lemierre declined to speculate hypothetically on what the EBRD's attitude might be to such an investment. He said he was aware that international financier George Soros had expressed some interest in investing in NTV and had raised publicly the possibility of EBRD participation in an investment in the station. 
 The Financial Times, in an editorial Friday, said the EBRD was "thinking of joining in" a rescue package for NTV led by Soros and U.S. media tycoon Ted Turner. The paper said the bank should not invest, but might help broker a deal. Last week the paper reported the EBRD may be willing to invest $20 million to $30 million in the project.
 Critics, including the founder of NTV's parent company, Vladimir Gusinsky, say the Kremlin is running an orchestrated campaign of legal harassment to try to take control of the station, which has criticized President Vladimir Putin. Gusinsky is under house arrest in Spain fighting extradition to Russia on fraud charges. Putin denies the allegations and says he wants NTV to remain independent. 
 On Friday, a Moscow court postponed hearings on a motion to shut down NTV, satellite network NTV-Plus and their parent company, Media-MOST. The hearing was to consider the demand by Moscow tax police to shut down the companies for tax violations. 
 
 (Reuters, SPT, AP)

TITLE: Gazprom Under Fire in Hungary, Poland
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: Clouds of controversy continue to grow around natural gas monopoly Gazprom's activities in Eastern Europe.
 On Friday, Russia gave into a request from the Budapest government to carry out a joint investigation of Gaz prom's purchase of Hungary's leading chemical producer, while Poland was calling for an urgent meeting with Gaz prom management to discuss control-sharing over the controversial Yamal gas pipeline.
 Industry, Science and Technology Minister Alexander Dondukov said Friday that the Russian government would cooperate with Hungary in a probe of the recent acquisition of Borsodchem by a group of Austrian and Russian shareholders suspected of acting on behalf of Gazprom, the world's largest natural gas producer and the largest gas supplier to Western Europe.
 Dondukov did not deny that Gazprom was behind the deal.
 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has questioned the legality of the transaction, which remained shrouded in secrecy, wondering whether perhaps money laundering may have been involved with a link to organized crime.
 "Given the secrecy surrounding the purchase, the thought may arise whether or not there is perhaps money laundering taking place and thus there may be a link to organized crime," Orban said last week on state-run radio.
 Government officials have not elaborated on their allegations of money laundering or involvement by underworld figures in the sale.
 While taking a mostly defensive attitude toward the Hungarians' suspicions, Dondukov, speaking through a translator, said, "We will carry on a joint investigation, the Russian and the Hungarian government and authorities, and we will involve the Russian Central Bank so that neither the Hungarian nor the Russian party suffers losses."
 There was no immediate reaction from the Hungarian side to the minister's offer, and the extent and other details of the probe were not immediately clear.
 Other comments made by Dondukov strongly suggested that he was taking exception to the Hungarians' misgivings about the deal. Dondukov said that a few years ago, when Hungarian investors appeared "aggressively" on the Russian market, they were welcome.
 He also said that if the Hungarians find fault with the deal, it's their problem. Dondukov predicted that Europe has to be "prepared" for an influx of Russian investment capital in the near future.
 Meanwhile, Poland's government said it wants to quickly meet top Gaz prom officials to discuss control-sharing over the controversial Yamal gas pipeline.
 Government officials have recently complained that the state treasury has lost its due control over the pipeline, built under a 1993 intergovernmental agreement and capable of carrying 32 billion cubic meters of gas to Western Europe annually.
 "It is the will of the government to resolve all the problems surrounding the Yamal pipeline," Economics Minister Janusz Steinhoff told the private Zet radio station in an interview.
 "I still hope there is a chance to quickly start serious talks on the level of national administrations," he added.
 Poland's Economics Ministry, due to hold an international gas conference Feb. 23, would not confirm Friday that the meeting on the Yamal pipeline would take place at that time.
 The conference is due to discuss Gazprom plans to build another pipeline running through Belarus, Poland and Slovakia to Western Europe, but market watchers expect Gazprom to approach the Polish government also on the existing Yamal route issues.
 The Yamal pipeline, whose Polish stretch is controlled by EuroPolGaz company, has been put in the spotlight early this year after the government declared that state-owned gas monopoly PGNiG has lost control over pipeline's key facilities.
 PGNiG has 48 percent in EuroPolGaz with the same stake held by Gazprom and 4 percent controlled by Poland's largest private Russian gas importer, Bartimpex.
 The Polish government says that PGNiG, a key shareholder of EuroPolGaz, has given control over subsidiaries running strategic pumping stations and a powerful telecom cable to Gazprom and private Bartimpex.

TITLE: GSM Plan Lets Cells Into the Subways
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: North-West GSM, St. Petersburg's largest cell-phone service provider, and Metrocom, which operates a system for hard-line telephone transmissions, have completed the installation of a system of base stations at three of the city's busiest metro junctions.
 All stations at the Ploshchad Alexandra Nevskovo 1 and 2, Vla di mir skaya-Dostoyevskaya, and Sa do vaya-Sennaya Ploshchad junctions have been equipped with the new systems. They join the Gos tiny Dvor-Nevsky Prospect, Plo shchad Vosstaniya-Maya kov skaya, and Technologichesky Institute 1 and 2 junction points as locations for the new stations. The earlier phase of installations was completed in August 1999.
 According to a North-West GSM press release, the new transmission stations will allow passengers to talk on their cell phones while on the platforms and escalators or in the halls or crossovers between the metro stations.
 But market specialists say that the added stations are unlikely to make a big difference for the city's cell-phone users.
 "In the Moscow metro system they've done the same thing as here in St. Petersburg," Vyacheslav Nikolayev, a telecoms analyst at Renaissance Capital said in a telephone interview Monday. "The result is that only Moscow Telephone Network (MTS) subscribers can use their cell-phones in around a dozen stations, while they can't talk in a train traveling inside the tunnels."
 According to Nikolayev, there are other markets, like those in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, where cell-phones can receive signals anywhere in the metro system.
 "Japanese cell-phone operators use a special type of antenna, which is in the form of a standard cable, that make it possible to provide a connection in the tunnel," he said. "It would have been more impressive had North-West GSM created that type of network."
 However, according to an official who worked for North-West GSM during the installation who spoke on condition of anonymity, the company has no plans to install such a system in the near future.
 Officials at North-West GSM declined to put a price tag on the new network, but Nikolayev said that the cost of a base station usually runs from $60,000 to $100,000 and, since the installation would be fairly inexpensive, the price of the new network was likely to be in the region of $1 million.

TITLE: LUKoil Casting Net To Reach Markets for Bulgarian Project
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Verbin
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - Top oil producer LUKoil said Thursday it is moving into the Balkans and Eastern Europe, partially because it needs more markets for its Bulgarian arm, LUKoil Neftochim.
 Vice president Ralif Safin told a news conference in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, that LUKoil was in talks about buying "big networks" of filling stations in Greece, Turkey and Macedonia, which Bulgaria borders.
 "We would have liked to buy them yesterday," he said. "Talks are going on."
 Neftochim is LUKoil's biggest investment project outside Russia, Safin said, and LUKoil planned more foreign investment now that the Russian government and parliament are paying more attention to the needs of the energy sector.
 The Russian delegation in Sofia included LUKoil officials and several senior members of parliament.
 Neftochim general director Valentin Zlatev said the refinery planned to increase processing of crude oil by 1 million tons in 2001.
 Neftochim's full annual processing capacity is 7.5 million tons. It processed 5.3 million tons in 1999. No actual figure for last year was available.
 Zlatev said Neftochim has turned a profit since LUKoil bought a 58 percent stake in the refinery at the end of 1999 for $101 million in cash and a pledge to invest $408.3 million until 2005 to upgrade it, meet environmental standards and shift to lead-free petrol.
 Neftochim expected a profit of $50 million for 2000, compared to a loss of $200 million in 1999, he said. It included profits from the refinery based at the Black Sea port of Burgas and a network of filling stations in Bulgaria.
 Neftochim's biggest problem was theft from its 740-kilometer pipeline network in Bulgarian territory, Zlatev said.
 Safin also said that LUKoil was eyeing several petrochemical plants in the former communist bloc member states. He did not name the plants, but said: "They could be in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic or Romania."
 LUKoil was also interested in firms being privatized in Yugo slavia, Safin said without elaborating.
 In October, Zla tev said LUKoil considered restoring or acquiring Serbia's Novi Sad refinery, destroyed by NATO bombing in 1999, but one month later LUKoil president Vagit Alekperov said the Russian company was not interested.
 Another possibility, Safin said, was the construction of a long-planned pipeline expected to transport Russian and Caspian crude from Bulgaria to Greece.
 The plan is to link Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas to the northern Aegean Greek port of Alexandroupoulis, bypassing the Bosporus Strait. The cost of a pipeline to carry 30 million to 35 million tons per year as well as storage and docking facilities in both ports, is estimated at $850 million.

TITLE: Aeroflot Trying On Flier-Friendly Look
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - As part of an ongoing revamp of its image, Aeroflot said Mon day that passengers will now get many of the same amenities offered by Western airlines.
 Waiting lines at the check-in counter will be kept short and passengers stuck in flight delays will be offered beverages and meals.
 "Every solid airline has its standards of quality, and we have come to the stage in our development when we have to adjust to the changes that have happened since," said Alexander Ivanov, deputy head of Aeroflot's department for ground services.
 Aeroflot, which had not updated its passenger service rules since 1985, put the new services in effect Feb. 1, Ivanov said in a telephone interview. The new standard applies to both international and domestic flights. 
 First class passengers will now not have to wait more than two minutes to get checked in, and no more than one person will be in line at the desk, Ivanov said. Business class will not have wait for more than six minutes with only three people in line, while economy class will not wait longer than 20 minutes with no more than 10 people in line.
 In case of flight delays, Aeroflot is promising to provide soft drinks after a 1 1/2 hours and breakfast, lunch or dinner after three hours, which a passenger can buy with a $10 voucher.
 If the plane is delayed by more than six hours at night or eight hours during the day, the airline will provide for accommodation at hotels at its own expense.
 Staff are being required to have "a benevolent and polite attitude and give timely and qualified help," according to a copy of the standards document obtained by The St. Petersburg Times. When communicating with passengers, "voices should not be raised and arguments are not allowed."
 Ivanov said that ensuring passengers get speedy passage through passport and customs controls - a major grouch among travelers - would be difficult to achieve since Aeroflot has no control over those services. But the airline is looking to ease the discomfort, he said.
 The official conceded that the standardization of services will not spread quickly to all of its 109 destinations, particularly the 26 in the regions.
 "Not everything that we have standardized can be provided straight away since much depends on the airport itself, but we will try our best to institute them in due course," Ivanov said.
 Industry analysts hailed Aeroflot's moves to improve services but said that the limited capacity of Sheremetyevo Airport may constrain the airline's good intentions.
 Aeroflot also said Monday that it has managed to get a waiver on a smoking ban for flights into the United States from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Aeroflot had been allowing smoking on such flights despite the ban.

TITLE: Increased Grain Harvest Bumping Exports
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russia may export 2 million to 3 million tons of food grain this year following an improved harvest in 2000, Interfax quoted Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev as saying.
 He gave no comparison for last year, and it was unclear if he was referring to the calendar or crop year.
 Russia harvested 65.4 million tons of grain in clean weight in 2000, up from 54.7 million in 1999. Earlier this week, Gordeyev said the 2001 harvest could reach 70 million tons.
 Independent analyst Andrei Sizov of SovEcon Ltd. said Gordeyev's figure for possible 2001 exports might be exaggerated as domestic grain prices were high and traders lacked incentive to export.
 Sizov estimated exports of grain, mostly wheat, wheat flour and barley, from July 2000 to June 2001 at about 1.3 million to 1.5 million tons, up from about 600,000 tons over the same period the previous year.
 Interfax quoted Gordeyev as saying Friday that food grain production could cover domestic needs. However, he said Russia was experiencing a shortage of grain for fodder, which he estimated at almost 4 million tons.
 He said the deficit would be filled with commercial imports, but gave no details.
 The minister said farmers faced increased fuel costs ahead of the spring sowing season, with prices 30 percent to 40 percent higher than a year ago. "Farmers now have to sell 3 tons of grain to pay for a ton of diesel fuel," he said.
 Spring sowing preparations are to be discussed by the government Thursday.

TITLE: Kasyanov Pushing To Pay Paris Club
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Isachenkov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Monday ordered the government's budget for this year reworked to include paying off some of Russia's Soviet-era debt, even as a visiting delegation from the International Monetary Fund began talks on a repayment schedule.
 It was not clear how much extra revenue Kasyanov wanted in the budget, or whether it would cover the entire $3.5 billion installment due to the so-called Paris Club of sovereign creditors.
 Kasyanov, speaking at a Cabinet session Monday, said an increase in tax and customs revenues last month was a sign that Russia's economy was on track. He voiced hope that better tax discipline, sales of government assets and domestic borrowing would raise additional revenues to meet foreign debt obligations this year.
 He made his comments on the first day of talks between Russia and a high-level IMF delegation led by Gerard Belanger, chief of the fund's 2nd European Department. According to the Paris Club charter, Russia needs IMF approval for its economic policy before it can ask the club to reschedule the debt, which totals about $38.7 billion.
 Kasyanov gave Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin two days to revise the budget to provide for Paris Club debt payments. The amended budget will then be sent for approval to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
 The move was a sharp turn in the Cabinet's strategy toward the Paris Club.
 When the government drafted the budget last fall, it left out the $3.5 billion payment due this year. The omission was apparently part of a negotiating strategy to quickly clinch a rescheduling deal.
 Cabinet officials had argued that falling world oil prices and the additional expenses due to the current, harsh winter would make it difficult for Russia to service its debt.
 The arguments drew criticism from foreign creditors and even some Russian finance officials. In a sign of divisions in the Russian government, government officials were pleading for debt relief even as President Vladimir Putin's chief economic adviser Andrei Illarionov was urging Russia to pay in full.
 He pointed to a $11 billion surplus last year thanks to high prices for oil, the main source of the government revenues.
 Russia's total foreign debt totals about $150 billion, with about $100 billion inherited from the Soviet Union.

TITLE: AvtoVAZ Stuck in Cash Crunch
AUTHOR: By Svetlana Kovalyova
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - Top automaker AvtoVAZ wants to launch new models and raise output but lacks strategic investors needed to implement ambitious multimillion-dollar projects, its chairman said in an interview.
 "We need a strategic investor to launch new production. We simply don't have such money in this country," Vladimir Kadannikov said last week.
 AvtoVAZ produces more than two-thirds of all Russian cars. Its Ladas are noisy and slow, but enjoy strong appeal due to an affordable price tag of $3,000 to $5,000 in a country where the average monthly salary last year was $80.
 Kadannikov said demand for AvtoVAZ's Niva off-road vehicles and La-da cars outpaced supply in 2000.
 "We are planning a serious increase in production this year," Kadannikov said, explaining that AvtoVAZ targeted boosting production by 42,000 units to 752,000 vehicles.
 AvtoVAZ also plans to produce 60,000 kits for assembly abroad and 150,000 engines this year.
 Its main plant in the Volga river city of Tolyatti, which employs about 110,000 people, has rescheduled working shifts and added an additional one on Saturday to meet targets.
 Kadannikov conceded that AvtoVAZ's production lagged behind international standards in many respects and said the firm had designed better models but lacked the cash to put them on the assembly line.
 AvtoVAZ has desperately sought foreign money as it needs $800 million to launch a new Kalina hatchback by 2006. Plans foresee producing 240,000 cars annually.
 The company also needs another $360 million to meet production targets of the new Niva vehicles by a September 2002 deadline.
 AvtoVAZ and U.S General Motors have been in talks for years on a joint venture. But there has been no deal signed on a $500 million to $600 million project, originally aimed at building GM's Opel Astra and the new Niva, a limited amount of which went on sale Friday in Tolyatti.
 AvtoVAZ offered a 17 percent stake in the joint venture to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The bank, which had also considered a loan of up to $170 million to AvtoVAZ, has not made its decision, pending GM's.
 Kadannikov said GM's board would consider the deal at a Feb. 6 meeting. "It's difficult to say what their decision will be, but as far as I know the majority will be for it."
 A no from GM would delay further production of the new Niva for at least 2 1/2 years, and launch of the Kalina would be put off even longer while AvtoVAZ seeks funds for the projects.
 Kadannikov said talks with foreign banks and investment funds on loans failed last year, and there was little chance of borrowing through a bond or share issue. "I doubt that anybody in the West is interested in buying our paper now."
 But such problems will not slow efforts to regain part of the export market AvtoVAZ lost due to the 1998 financial crash. It intends to hike export to 130,000 vehicles this year from 98,809 vehicles in 2000.

TITLE: IKEA Considers Russian Debt-for-Assets Scenario
AUTHOR: By Igor Semenenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Swedish furniture giant IKEA prides itself on its inventiveness, but Russia's proposal to Germany to swap assets for $30 billion in debt took even it by surprise.
 But then when IKEA - known worldwide for its unorthodox advertising and aggressive expansion efforts - realized that the government was dead serious about trading stakes in factories for the Soviet-era debt, its German division saw an opportunity to make a fresh inroad into the Russian market.
 The German division oversees IKEA's operations in Russia.
 "The first time I read about it in the newspaper, I laughed," Lennart Dahlgren, general director with IKEA Russia, said in an interview Friday.
 "Big things between the two states are not our business, we are only a furniture maker. But we are interested in being a part of anything that can be a longtime thing in Russia," he said.
 IKEA, which buys goods from about 50 factories here, is one of the first German companies to say it is eager to get in line for the debt-for-assets scheme, first floated by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder at the start of December.
 Russia, which is pushing to get tens of billions of dollars in Soviet-era debt to the Paris Club of creditors restructured or partially written off, proposed that the Russian affiliates of German enterprises repay Russia's debts to the German government in exchange for local assets.
 The initially reluctant German government has warmed up to the idea and intense negotiations are now under way.
 "We've reached a general understanding on most basic principles for carrying out the operation of converting debt into investment," Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Kolotukhin was quoted by Interfax as saying after a round of talks in Berlin on Friday.
 "The German side mentioned a number of specific projects that could be considered under the conversion scheme," he said, reiterating that Russia would not offer stocks in major companies.
 Finance Ministry sources said the two countries are at odds over several issues, foremost which exchange rate should be applied in converting the debt.
 The Germans proposed setting the rate at 1 ruble to 2.34 Deutsche marks, which effectively implies that the Russian debt would increase by another 15 billion marks ($7.17 billion). Fresh high-level talks will kick off in Berlin on Sunday.
 Russian authorities are also preparing to meet with German business leaders. "We are continuing to work on the proposal," Konstantin Voronin, a senior official with the Industry, Science and Technology Ministry, said Friday. "Guidelines for the debt scheme will be issued in two weeks for discussions with representatives of German businesses."
 Voronin said about 20 large German companies will participate in the talks, which will be led by Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister Ivan Matyorov, Deputy Industry, Science and Technology Minister Boris Alyo shin and Kolotukhin.
 Kolotukhin will chair the talks.
 Voronin declined to say whether IKEA would participate in the talks, saying only that many companies including machinery maker Mannesmann would be represented.
 Some German investors are less than excited about the proposed swap since many of Russia's most attractive assets - like gas giant Gazprom and oil firm LUKoil - will be off limits.
 "No talks have been held [with the Russians]," said Klaus Hoppe, spokesman for Wintershall, a partner with Gazprom in the Wingas joint venture with Gazprom. Wingas deliveries account for 13 percent of the German natural gas market.
 Hoppe said Wintershall would find the offer more attractive if it included stakes in large companies like Gazprom.

TITLE: MinFin: Reforms Are Clue To Reviving Farming Sector
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The Finance Ministry told State Duma lawmakers Monday that a proposal to restructure 220 billion rubles in farm debt would be drawn up by April in a bid to bring some relief to the cash-strapped agricultural sector.
 But Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Petrov told the State Duma hearing that the government was only willing to revamp the debt of agricultural producers if the farms are willing to carry out reforms. 
 "I know that some think that we should forgive the debt, but all the previous debt write-offs didn't do any good," said Petrov. "There is no reason to write off debts without structural reforms."
 Petrov said the accounts of about 37,000 agriculture enterprises, or 90 percent of Russia's farms, have been frozen due to debt arrears. More than half the debt - 52 percent - is in taxes, payments to non-budgetary funds and fines.
 The debt rose 25 percent from 175 billion rubles in 1999 to 220 billion rubles last year, according to the Audit Chamber.
 Petrov said that the finance and economics ministries are piecing together a plan that envisions the revamp of tax and energy debts to farms that can make current payments. The plan also calls for farms to dramatically change their management, distribution and sales.
 The deputy finance minister said qualifying farms would get subsidies proportional to their output.
 The program is due to be submitted to the Cabinet at the beginning of April for implementation this summer, he said.
 The proposal drew harsh criticism from Communists and Agrarians in the Duma who said the government was asking for too much too soon.
 Vladimir Plotnikov, head of the Agrarian lobbying group, said the government should forgive fines, roll over tax debts for 10 years and not push for immediate reforms.

TITLE: Has the West Done Too Little in Russia?
AUTHOR: By Anders Aslund
TEXT: Always politically inflamed, Western policy toward Russia attracts more speculation than actual scrutiny of facts. This has been especially true of Western assistance to Russia's market economic transformation.
 The first myth is that the West has provided Russia with enormous assistance. In fact, grants to Russia have been extremely limited. USAID has committed only about $200 million a year and TACIS just $150 million a year. Actual disbursements have been much smaller.
 The biggest contributions have been made by the International Monetary Fund ($20 billion in actual disbursements) and the World Bank (a total commitment of $12 billion), but these organizations give loans that must be paid back with interest. Worse, from 1993 to 1995, when the West pretended to help the transition countries, Western governments and international organizations actually withdrew over $20 billion net from the region, according to the IMF. Russia paid back more in interest and principal on old communist credits than it received in Western government loans.
 At the same time, thanks to the collapse of the Soviet military threat, the United States has been able to cut its defense expenditures from 6 percent of its gross domestic product in the 1980s to 3 percent of GDP at present, which largely accounts for the disappearance of the U.S. budget deficit. The accumulated U.S. peace dividend in the 1990s amounts to an incredible $1.4 trillion, while Russia only received cumulative USAID commitments of $2.6 billion. What moral right does the United States have to complain about Western aid to Russia?
 Another standard reproach is that Western aid has not been effective. Yet, the whole economic thinking of the country has been transformed in a few years from sterile Marxism-Leninism to insightful market economic thinking. To a considerable extent, this is the result of the Western technical assistance.
 Western aid to privatization has been much condemned, as if that were the cause of corruption in Russia - ignoring the fact that the Soviet Union was a lawless kleptocracy. In a few years Russia went from complete state ownership to having a private sector that contributes no less than 70 percent of overall GDP. USAID and the World Bank have made invaluable technical contributions to this process. Otherwise, Russia might have turned into a state-controlled and state-owned dictatorship as Belarus has done. That was the real alternative.
 Throughout the former communist world, the correlation between privatization and other structural reforms as well as democracy is very close. The EBRD has shown that Russia is not particularly corrupt among transition economies, being at roughly the level of Latvia or Lithuania.
 The favorite object of attack is the IMF, and I must admit that I have taken part at times. The IMF should have provided funding to Russia's true reformers in 1992, and it should have acted to break up the detrimental ruble zone at that time.
 However, the reason the IMF attracts so much criticism is because it actually does something. It is the premier Western organization that has given Russia substantial and effective assistance, eventually securing Russia's financial stabilization.
 Possibly the IMF's finest hour in Russia was its well-financed reform package of July 1998. When the Russian oligarchs, regional governors and communists blocked the Kiriyenko government from carrying out the necessary fiscal adjustment, the IMF rightly withdrew its financing. It showed what Russia had to do to sort out its finances, and after the August 1998 crash sundry Russian governments have done exactly that - with excellent results for the economy.
 The final criticism of Western economic assistance to Russia is that the country is a total economic disaster. But look around you. Russia achieved 7.6 percent growth last year, and this is not only the result of high oil prices and devaluation. In 1998, barter was seen as the invincible scourge of the Russian economy, with some arguing that it was naive to believe that the Russian economy would be normal within the foreseeable future. But barter peaked in August 1998 at 54 percent of all industrial transactions, falling to 21 percent in August 2000. The Russian economy is now largely monetized, and all kinds of structural improvements are occurring.
 The problem of the reforms of 1992 was that the change of system was not credible. A greater discontinuity, or shock, was needed. Black Tuesday, the exchange-rate crisis of Oct. 11, 1994, was a sufficient shock to make financial stabilization possible in 1995. Yet, Russia needed the financial crash of August 1998 to be so shocked as to realize that the market economy had to be cleaned up. Similarly, Poland required two financial shocks, one in 1981 and another in 1989, before it got onto a sensible reform track.
 Two seemingly opposing groups drive the distorted conventional wisdom about the Russian economy. Many left-wingers are still profoundly opposed to market reforms as such. Likewise, some Western right-wingers are indulging their Russophobia and are critical of any state intervention. This consensus of opposites is reinforced by Russia's incredible openness, which offers more facts than many can stomach. Now Western journalists interview beggars in Moscow, as Soviet journalists once did in New York. The stinging criticism against technical assistance is aggravated by academics envious of colleagues.
 Let us be honest: The West has not tried to do all that much in Russia. And that is the problem, not wasted Western government money.
 
 Anders Aslund, a senior associate at the Moscow-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, advised the Russian government from 1991 to 1994. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: Congressional Report Slams U.S. Banks' Laundering Role
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: WASHINGTON - U.S. Congressional investigators said Monday that major U.S banks holding accounts for foreign counterparts have been used as conduits for laundering millions of dollars of dirty money obtained through drug dealing, corruption and organized crime.
 In a report capping a year-long probe into the issue, Democratic staff members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said so-called correspondent accounts provided a "significant gateway" for money launderers to move their ill-gotten gains through the U.S. financial system.
 "Most U.S. banks do not have adequate anti-money laundering safeguards in place with respect to correspondent banking, and this problem is long-standing, widespread and ongoing," the report said.
 It named a number of leading U.S. institutions, including Citigroup, Bank of America, First Union, and the former Chase Manhattan Bank.
 Estimates of the amount of dirty money passing through the global financial system each year range from $500 billion to more than $1.5 trillion. Money laundering refers to the practice of moving illicit funds through a series of financial institutions to disguise their origin and ownership.
 The report recommended that Congress act to prohibit banks from opening correspondent accounts for so-called "brass plate" banks - shell institutions often consisting of nothing more than a name plate and mail box in an offshore financial haven.
 U.S. banks should also make greater efforts to identify the real owners of foreign accounts and beef up their scrutiny of transactions by banks located in areas identified as presenting a high risk of money laundering, it said.
 "Inattention and disinterest by U.S. banks in screening the foreign banks they take in as clients have allowed rogue foreign banks and their criminal clients to carry on money laundering and other criminal activity in the United States," said the panel's ranking Democrat, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin.
 The investigation was launched after the Bank of New York was caught up in a probe of alleged money laundering by suspected Russian mobsters and businessmen, spurring concern about U.S. banks' role in a growing global problem.

TITLE: Residents Losing the Battle With Developers
TEXT: THE small square in front of my house has recently become a parking lot for a series of trucks loaded with construction materials, meaning that a new residential complex comprising several buildings is not far behind. The view from my window onto St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Hermitage Museum, as well as the sight of the city's mosque and the Church on Spilled Blood, will therefore be spoiled. But I might as well get used to the idea, because I don't see that there's anything else I can do.
 Occasionally, the denizens of downtown St. Petersburg - the most attractive area for new, "elite" housing - protest against developers who are preparing land for construction. 
 Usually, those residents who claim that their sunshine has been blocked out (for example) negotiate some sort of compensation with the developers, which can be anything from $200 upwards. Residents actually getting developers to pack up their things and go away are a rare breed, despite a gubernatorial decree from September 2000 that states developers of new property must coordinate their projects with those living in already existing buildings who will be affected by construction.
 A recent case proved the exception to the rule, but the developer concerned - who claims to have invested $300,000 in the future site - intends to sue the city administration, which gave him permission to build there before the residents knew of his plans and started to protest.
 It is not surprising that the big construction businesses are against coordinating their projects with the local population. "If such rules had existed in the 18th century, St. Petersburg would never have been built," an irritated member of the building fraternity said at a recent press conference.
 Construction is not exactly a transparent business, and the regulations within the industry are highly flexible. City development, which is a fairly new branch, has according to one informed source, up to an 800 percent degree of profitability. Perhaps this is why residents fail so often in their struggles with developers.
 Such incredible profitability forces developers and constructors to lobby their interests in all structures of district and city administrations. As the amount of available space in the city center is decreasing, the competition gets fiercer. Construction companies are ready to pay big bucks just for the right to prepare a project, let alone the cost of building permission and the construction itself.
 Last year, roughly 1 million square meters of residential property were built in St. Petersburg, and as the new apartments are still in demand, their prices show no sign of falling. I have no idea who will stop this process, or if anyone can. And that's why I keep silent when my neighbors ask me to write about "the outrage in our garden."
 
 Anna Shcherbakova is the St. Petersburg bureau chief of Vedomosti newspaper.

TITLE: Why Predictions of Recession Remain a Guessing Game
AUTHOR: By Robert J. Shiller
TEXT: AGREAT embarrassment for modern macroeconomic theory is that it has never achieved any consensus on the basic questions of what makes the stock market rise or fall and what ultimately causes recessions.
 Today, there is great debate over whether a U.S. recession is in the offing - and if there is a recession, how long it will last. Already, signs of an economic downturn are all around - a depressed stock market, layoffs in several business sectors. That's why many Americans looked with relief toward Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve Board, which last week cut the benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point for the second time in a month.
 Economists know what economic indicators correlate with recessions - stock market declines often precede them, for example. But we have not been able to pinpoint what ultimately causes recessions - probably because the causes are psychological and thus intangible.
 The renowned British economist A. C. Pigou wrote in 1929 that psychological factors account for about half of fluctuations in industrial production: He spoke of "psychological interdependence," "sympathetic or epidemic excitement" and "mutual suggestion." His judgment seems about as good today as in 1929 - and the factors he described are still not easily measured.
 Absent any scientific consensus about the ultimate source of economic fluctuations, oversimplified theories abound. Today's example is the popular theory that the Fed controls everything - that the raising or lowering of interest rates alone causes the economy's ups and downs. 
 Of course, the Fed's management of interest rates does have an important role in the way recessions play out, but it would appear unlikely that anything the Fed actively chooses to do will actually disrupt the economy. Something else is driving the periodic recessions.
 A recession is generally related to a decline in confidence, a decline that makes consumers less willing to spend and businesses less willing to invest and to employ workers. Eventually we see layoffs and rises in unemployment. The recent string of layoffs and the January decline in manufacturing employment are ultimately due to a decline in confidence.
 There are some efforts to measure confidence systematically, notably the Consumer Confidence Index published by the Conference Board. It is based on answers to just five survey questions, about respondents' assessments of business and employment conditions, now and in six months, and of the likely family income in six months. Surely many respondents to these surveys are reflecting what they hear on the evening news, rather than probing their inner psyches.
 The index, as simple as it is, however, has been shown in a number of studies to contain valuable information for forecasters. A decline in confidence is a useful predictor that consumer spending will drop. And in the past few months, the index has had its greatest decline since the recession in 1990 and 1991. This suggests some trouble ahead.
 So are we likely to have a recession?
 Some factors suggest that we might. Our economic expansion of the past 10 years has been fueled by some trends that may not be sustainable. One is a historic decline in the average rate of personal savings.
 The problem for forecasters is that we are, by these measures, largely out of the range of our historical experience. When we are out of range, past examples cannot be reliable guides to the future.
 Lacking an established theory of the causes of economic fluctuations, forecasters rely on extrapolation of trends or on assumptions that past patterns repeat themselves. But we are in a time when confidence and market psychology are changing fast. Surprises - perhaps a serious recession - could be in store for us.
 
 Robert J. Shiller is an economics professor at Yale and the author of "Irrational Exuberance."

TITLE: Deutsche Boerse IPO Exceeds Offer Price
AUTHOR: By Hans Greimel
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: FRANKFURT, Germany - Shares in Deutsche Boerse AG opened 8 percent higher than their offering price Monday, signaling a successful launch for publicly traded shares in Germany's biggest stock exchange.
 The Deutsche Boerse had set the issue price at 335 euros ($314) for the 3.2 million shares it is offering. At that price, the Frankfurt-based stock exchange reaped 1.1 billion euros ($1 billion).
 The initial public offering, Germany's first major IPO of the year, is expected to enable Deutsche Boerse to expand its computer trading system and use shares for takeovers of other exchanges.
 "After the public offering, we have at our disposal an important acquisition currency as well as a bulging cash box with which we can play an important role in the consolidation of the European stock exchange and transactions landscape," chief executive Werner Seifert said at a news conference.
 Seifert added that the IPO's proceeds would also be used to improve the exchange's computerized trading system and sell it to other stock exchanges around the world. But he stressed that it was important for the stock exchange to be among the first in going public.
 The OM Gruppen exchange of Sweden, the Australian, the Singapore and the Hong Kong stock markets are the only other major exchanges now traded.
 Deutsche Boerse is turning to an IPO as tougher competition and pressure from investors pushes exchange operators to join forces so they can share technology costs and cut trading fees.
 Euronext, an exchange formed last year through a merger of the bourses in Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, is expected to follow suit with a public offering later this year.
 Plans for Deutsche Boerse's public offering were revived after being shelved last year during its failed attempt to merge with the London Stock Exchange. At the time, the exchange didn't say how many shares would go on sale or how much capital it hoped to raise.
 The merger foundered in September after OM Gruppen launched a rival takeover bid, which also failed.
 There were 23 offers for each share issued Monday, the exchange said, after analysts said institutional and even small-time investors scrambled to climb aboard a stock that is seen as a slow but steady gainer in the long run. Roughly 80 percent of the shares went to institutional investors and 20 percent to retail investors.
 More than three-quarters of the institutional investors were foreign, Deutsche Boerse said, with 28 percent from Britain, 11 percent from the United States and 9 percent from Italy.
 About 27 percent of the stock market's equity is traded on the open market, with German banks, regional exchanges and brokerages privately owning the rest.
 Deutsche Bank is its largest single shareholder, with 14 percent before the IPO and roughly 10 percent now.
 Based on the issue price, the Deut sche Boerse has a total market capitalization of 3.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion).
 The Deutsche Boerse is one of Europe's biggest exchanges, but its 1999 trading volume amounted to only 3.9 trillion euros ($3.6 trillion), less than half the $8.9 trillion seen that year on the New York Stock Exchange.

TITLE: Automaker May Lose $3Bln
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: DETROIT, Michigan - DaimlerChrysler AG declined comment Monday on published reports that it will write off up to $3 billion for the cost of shutting assembly lines and eliminating 26,000 jobs in its Chrysler division.
 The Chrysler division reported a third-quarter loss of $512 million and has warned its fourth-quarter loss could be more than $1 billion. The U.S. economic slowdown and tougher light-truck competition have hurt Chrysler.
 DaimlerChrysler plans to issue fourth-quarter results Feb. 26 and will not release write-off figures before then, spokesperson Megan Giles said from Chrysler's headquarters in Auburn Hills.
 The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek on Monday quoted unidentified sources as saying the write-off would be $2 billion to $3 billion.
 On Jan. 29 DaimlerChrysler announced it was cutting 26,000 jobs, or 20 percent of Chrysler's North American work force. The company said it would close plants in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico and cut production at four plants in the United States and Canada.
 The amount of the charge depends in part on how many Chrysler workers accept voluntary early retirement packages. Eligible salaried and hourly workers are getting applications this week and have until the end of the month to apply, Giles said.

TITLE: A Tactical Missed Opportunity
AUTHOR: By Pavel Felgenhauer
TEXT: THIS week in Paris, a member of the Chechen military staff told me that the rebels had suffered high casualties last year, but that they have now managed to adapt to Russian tactics and their fighting spirit is high. In 1999, as the main rebel force was pushed back by Russian tanks, undercover armed resistance cells were left behind to create havoc in the enemy's rear.
 However, the rebels now concede that their war plan did not work out as they hoped it would. The Chechens admit they were overconfident after beating the Russians in 1996, and that they did not expect that the Russian assault would be so massive and determined. The rebels believed that the Russians would occupy northern Chechnya up to the Terek River and stop there.
 Instead, federal forces pushed on, tenaciously disregarding heavy losses. During the siege of the Chechen capital Grozny a year ago, the Russian military lost at least 1,000 men and many more were wounded.
 The Chechens acknowledge the loss of 300 fighters during the siege itself. During the retreat from Grozny, though, hundreds more were killed. In purely military terms, the Russians did not defeat the rebels in Grozny. But relentless heavy shelling wore down the rebels' morale. One by one, the warlords decided to retreat from Grozny and fight from the mountains. 
 This retreat soon turned into a rout as a couple of thousand rebels withdrew, abandoning the relative safety of the city together with caches of food and ammunition.
 In the mountains, the rebels found no shelter, no food, no supplies - only snow, rocks and constant bombardments that inflicted high casualties and further eroded morale. Last March, in the village of Komsomolskoye south of Grozny, a column of exhausted and hungry rebels was surrounded and almost entirely wiped out. The rebels concede they lost 841 fighters in that battle, their heaviest single-engagement losses.
 By their own account, the Chechen resistance was indeed a spent force by last spring. Several warlords began to back the Russians together with the chief of the pro-Moscow administration, Ahkmad Kadyrov. Most of the rest were just trying to hide and lick their wounds. Total Russian victory seemed close, but Moscow did not manage to seize the opportunity.
 While Russian generals prematurely celebrated, rebel leaders in the mountains soon found out that the resistance cells left behind enemy lines were alive and well. The extreme brutality of the Russian occupation transformed peaceful civilians - many of whom were once disgruntled by warlord rule - into dedicated resistance supporters. The environment was ripe for an effective guerrilla resistance campaign, where the partisans move, attack, hide and survive within a fully supportive civilian population "like fish in water."
 Beginning last March, the rebel command began a radical overhaul of operations. Fighters were infiltrated unit by unit out of the mountains and behind Russian lines. Federal forces continued to bombard the hills, but gradually it became obvious that they were mostly shooting at rocks. Even rebel radio transmissions in the mountains died down as the small groups left, maintaining radio silence to avoid detection. At the same time, guerrilla attacks in the populated areas of Chechnya increased in scope and effectiveness.
 The Russian command has at last begun to change its tactics in response. It announced plans to move permanent Russian garrisons into Chechen towns and villages headed by FSB operatives to locate and root out the underground resistance. FSB officials call this a "KGB-military" operation.
 In turn, the Chechen resistance claims it already has established undercover armed units in every Chechen village ready to "neutralize" any garrison, and that the Russians are moving their troops into a lion's den. The Chechens also claim that they are preparing a major counteroffensive, a massive armed uprising that will wipe out many small Russian garrisons and force Moscow to open serious negotiations.
 It is clear that such an uprising can only happen if a large part of the civilian Chechen population takes up arms. It is also important that large segments of the pro-Moscow Chechen forces join in or at least stay neutral. At present, the rebels can only plan this offensive. But if the Russian authorities continue their present mode of indiscriminate oppression, they'll make good rebels out of any Chechen.
 
 Pavel Felgenhauer is a Moscow-based defense analyst.

TITLE: For Too Many Reporters, Conflict Is a Chance To Pursue Personal Agenda
AUTHOR: By Erik Batuev
TEXT: SOMETIME during the early months of the second Chechen war, the Federal Security Service (FSB) summoned me to their Moscow headquarters for "an informal chat."
 I must admit I was terrified. I thought that they would interrogate me about what I'd seen while reporting behind the rebel lines - the number of tanks and machine-guns, the whereabouts of the most notorious field commanders. As a journalist, the last thing I needed was a reputation as an FSB informer.
 But I was wrong. The "Chekists" didn't ask me even a single question about the rebels. They simply told me something that I will remember for the rest of my life: "When you go and do your professional duty," they said, "never lose sight of the fact that you are a Russian citizen. Always remember that."
 As far as they were concerned, it was a simple choice: Either you work in the interests of the Russian state or you are working against it. And the second Chechen campaign in particular has shown that the Russian journalistic community is split irreconcilably into these two camps.
 Back in August 1994, when then Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudaev's troops clashed with the Chechen opposition, one of the Russian news agencies sent two journalists to Grozny to cover the fighting.
 One of the correspondents worked with the opposition while the other followed Dudaev's men. Both sent their dispatches back to Moscow where they were combined into a single report and the agency was satisfied that its version of events was fairly evenly balanced.
 In practice, however, the two journalists were merely publishing the conflicting lies of the two opposing camps. The truth wasn't "somewhere in the middle" - it was completely lost. And, as a result, the public in Moscow and throughout Russia was led to believe that Chechnya was in a state of civil war, with serious losses being incurred on both sides.
 This approach to war journalism set the tone for the years to come.
 Since 1994, most Russian journalists traveling down to Chechnya have found themselves emotionally involved in the conflict - and their loyalties have been severely put to the test. War, as the great Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev wrote, is not fought only in the trenches - it is fought in the hearts of the journalists who see the suffering for themselves and struggle to understand it.
 They, too, see nightmares. A journalist who has been in a war-zone comes home a different person. A friend of mine who went through the whole of the first Chechen war found himself unable to re-adapt to civilian life and went into a monastery.
 After I returned from Chechnya for the first time, I found it impossible to go through the motions of an ordinary existence. I couldn't bring myself to go to discotheques or concerts. I thought about nothing but the war. It was a kind of fixation, a drug that kept drawing me back. 
 And yet I could never write about what I really saw. Paradoxically, this was the most compelling thing about it, the secret knowledge that I could never share and that set me apart.
 At the beginning of the second campaign in the autumn of 1999, I passed through the village of Dattykh, on the border with Ingushetia. The Russian troops stationed in the village were busy building machine-gun emplacements. Without asking the villagers' permission, they had demolished a stable building and turned the horses out into the steppe. Then they tore up the headstones in the village cemetery and used them to clad the embrasures.
 I remember writing an article which concluded that the Russian military was turning the civilian population against Moscow and soon the federal army would finding itself fighting the enemy on two fronts. Several Moscow newspapers refused to publish this article on the grounds that it was pro-Chechen and that public opinion supported the Russian invasion.
 Then I wrote an article about the infamous zachistki - the federal clean-up operations aimed at flushing out rebel fighters who had taken refuge among the civilian population. In the town of Shali, with a population of 20,000, a house-to-house search conducted by Russian Interior Ministry troops lasted just 90 minutes. It unearthed one sniper's rifle, one mortar and one AK-47. "Zachistki" in Argun and the village of Kurchaloy were equally cursory.
 Again my article was turned down by the newspapers because it "betrayed pro-Chechen sympathies." But two days later, Chechen fighters swooped on these very same settlements and forced the Russian garrisons to retreat. Then the newspapers were all clamoring for my story. You see, it was no longer perceived as a warning but as a postscript to an actual event.
 I have to say that some Russian journalists often succumb to the temptation to shape the course of events. On the most simple level, I have sometimes seen them accept invitations from Russian troops to take pot shots at the rebel lines. I have even seen some ask to have a go.
 But on a professional level, the pen can be mightier than the machine-gun. On November 10, 1994, the newspaper Megapolis Kontinent published an article entitled, "Ingushetia Is Stockpiling Arms."
 Hiding behind a pseudonym, the author stated that Ingush President Ruslan Aushev had ordered government agents to buy up vast quantities of contraband weapons - from handguns and sniper's rifles to armored cars and tanks.
 The article was published at a time when tensions on the Ossetian-Ingush border were fast reaching the breaking point and President Aushev was incensed. He instantly threatened to sue the paper, demanding a billion rubles in compensation. 
 Megapolis Kontinent quickly published a complete retraction and gave Aushev the name of the offending journalist - who was summarily dismissed.
 But the reporter himself was clearly unmoved by the scandal. He went straight to President Aushev and offered to write a similar article claiming that the Ossetians were buying arms with a view to launching a new pogrom against the Ingush in the Prigorodny region.
 For every Russian journalist who attempts to understand the paradoxes of war, there are a thousand more who see armed conflict as a chance to pursue a personal agenda.
 And before we can expect to see objective reports coming back from the battlefields of Chechnya, we all need to face the many enemies inside ourselves.
 
 Erik Batuev is a journalist and a regular contributor to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting's Caucasus Reporting Service, to which he contributed this essay.

TITLE: There's No Objectivity With Cloak and Gown
AUTHOR: By David Gibbs
TEXT: AN academic controversy has revealed a most interesting fact: A significant number of social scientists, especially political scientists, regularly work with the Central Intelligence Agency. 
 It has long been known that the academia-CIA connection was a staple of the early Cold War. During the 1940s and '50s, the CIA and military intelligence were among the major sources of financial support for America's social scientists. In Europe, the agency covertly supported some leading writers and scholars through the Congress for Cultural Freedom, as Frances Stonor Saunders recently documented in her book "The Cultural Cold War." 
 Such ties supposedly withered during the 1970s in the aftermath of Vietnam and hearings by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which revealed extensive CIA misdeeds, including fomenting coups against democratically elected governments, plotting assassinations of foreign leaders and disseminating propaganda. After this, it seemed that no self-respecting academic would go anywhere near the agency. 
 A recent article in Lingua Franca, however, reveals that this perception is inaccurate. It states that since 1996, the CIA has made public outreach a "top priority" and, according to experts on U.S. intelligence, "the strategy has worked," the article says.
 This article quotes esteemed academics, including Columbia's Robert Jervis, former president-elect of the American Political Science Association, and Harvard's Joseph Nye. Both acknowledge having worked for the CIA. Yale's H. Bradford Westerfield is quoted as saying: "There's a great deal of actually open consultation and there's a lot more semi-open, broadly acknowledged consultation."
 Something is seriously wrong here. The CIA has been a key party to many of the international conflicts academics study. If political scientists work for the CIA, how can they function as objective scholars? 
 Jervis, Nye and Westerfield seem to discount any suggestion that "cloak-and-gown" ties might bias scholarship. But consider the covert operations undertaken by the CIA, including U.S. support for overthrowing governments in Iran in 1953, Guatemala in 1954, Zaire in 1961, Indonesia in 1965 and Chile in 1973. I reviewed all the articles published during the past 10 years in five of the most prestigious journals in the field. Apart from a sentence or two, they contain no mention of CIA covert operations. Covert actions have been effectively expunged from the record. 
 News media run articles on covert operations, such as the recent revelation that the CIA had close links to Gen. Manuel Contreras, Chile's dreaded secret police chief during the Pinochet dictatorship. Nevertheless, political science journals remain virtually silent on such issues. Can anybody explain this?
 
 David Gibbs is an associate professor of political science at the University of Arizona. He contributed this comment to the Los Angeles Times.

TITLE: There's No Hurry
AUTHOR: By Nicholas Berry
TEXT: PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin has indicated that he would welcome a dialogue with newly inaugurated U.S. President George W. Bush, but the White House has made it clear that policy discussions at the summit level will not be held any time soon. 
 Reports from Washington even say that the July Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy, is planned to be no more than a "get acquainted" time for Putin and Bush. However, Moscow should not think that, because Bush is taking his time, a radical shift in U.S. policy is in the works or that Washington has decided to downgrade relations.
 Columnist Jim Hoagland wrote in The Washington Post last week that Bush's "slow boat to Russia" can be explained by the fact that the new president will consult extensively with European allies before engaging Russia. 
 He will seek their views on national missile defense, or NMD, NATO expansion and other issues affecting the broad pattern of U.S.-European relations. This is in keeping with Bush's presidential campaign promises to tighten U.S. alliances.
 There are other reasons for the delay in substantive negotiations with Russia, reasons that the White House doesn't want to talk about. Bush is neither well informed nor well traveled. American state governors do not have a foreign policy and generally pay little attention to the world at large. This was true of Bill Clinton and it is of Bush as well. 
 During the presidential campaign, the Republican candidate had to be heavily scripted and briefed. He made only three foreign policy campaign speeches, only one of which - while staying close to the script - provided a broad perspective. He spouted only memorized sound bites supplied by his knowledgeable foreign policy advisers during the presidential debates.
 Engaging in substantive policy talks with Russia (or China) without substantial knowledge presents Bush with multiple hazards. It will take time for the president to "get up to speed." Bush is fully aware that making a mistake on early policy decisions will influence his reputation with Congress, the media and public. 
 He remembers Clinton's imbroglio when he charged ahead with a controversial gays-in-the-military policy early in his administration. Clinton's reputation with the Pentagon, already tarnished by his Vietnam draft-dodging, never fully recovered. Bush, in contrast, has chosen the relative safe ground of education policy as his first policy initiative.
 Major foreign policy initiatives can wait. Bush and the rest of the world are fully aware that Vice President Richard Cheney and the president's foreign policy team - headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld - are experienced, opinionated, tough-minded realists. 
 Proceeding while unprepared would make Bush a captive of his advisers when they speak with one voice. Already some in the media expect Cheney to act like a prime minister, leaving Bush a more regal, even ceremonial role. However, Bush will not play that game.
 It is also apparent that Bush cannot expect his foreign policy team always to speak with one voice. Major conflicts over policy are inevitable. Powell, for example, has indicated that he will try to attain negotiated modifications to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty before proceeding with NMD. Rumsfeld's position holds that the ABM Treaty is an "ancient" Cold War relic and "ought not to inhibit a country, a president, an administration, a nation, from fashioning offensive and defensive capabilities that will provide for our security in a notably different national security environment." Cheney will also enter the policy mix. 
 Any policy dispute, therefore, will place inordinate burdens on Bush. And as all executive officials - whether governors or presidents - recognize, it is necessary to be somewhat knowledgeable on issues in order to tell the difference between good and bad advice.
 Finally, there is no foreign policy urgency toward Russia. No crisis demands immediate attention. Reports from the White House say that patience will buy time to see what policies Putin will pursue. Concern has been expressed over Russian arms sales and technology transfers to Iran, especially those that could assist Tehran's nuclear program. 
 The announced preparation of a Russian-Chinese political pact also calls for patience to see what eventually transpires. Others express fear that Putin's crackdown on oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky and Media-MOST may signal a shift to more authoritarian policies that would make congressional and media support for America's Russian policies, such as the Comprehensive Threat Reduction program (also called Nunn-Lugar), less tenable.
 After considering Bush's situation, it might well be in Moscow's interest to match Washington's patience with its own. 
 
 Nicholas Berry is a senior analyst with the Center for Defense Information, a privately-funded Washington think tank specializing in national security affairs. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: What Does Kremlin Mean By 'Liberty?'
TEXT: THE other day I happened to be at a gathering at a foreign embassy. It was just a small gathering and the talk was fairly banal, but the hope of posing some questions to a former prime minister of a certain European country meant that the time was worth spending. This former prime minister appeared to have emerged from a lower-class background, more or less without formal education. It was obvious that he was something of a role model for two young Russian politicians who, among four other better-known colleagues, had also been invited to the party.
 These two politicians were very young. One is 28 years old, and the other is slightly over 30. I had never met them before and was intrigued to speak to them. Both of them had been elected to the State Duma on the pro-Kremlin Unity ticket from Moscow districts.
 What had they been doing before? Business, they said. Judging by their haircuts and their ordinary, rather cheap suits, they were not "new Russians." In fact, I probably would not even have remembered them the next day if not for two interesting details. First, they said during the conversation that they would like to create a "Party of Liberty." 
 Rather meanly, I asked them what they meant by "liberty." When I hear members of the pro-Kremlin Duma, people who never seem to take any public stands that seem close to my understanding of what "liberty" means, who never said a word in defense of the thousands who have been forced to give up their liberties and still more basic human rights, use such terms, you can understand why I would want to know exactly what they were trying to say. They chose not to elaborate. Perhaps it was just too hard for them to explain.
 The second detail came when the dinner was over. As these guys walked out of the building, a brand-new silver Mercedes ran straight through the gates of the ambassador's residence and pulled up at the bottom of the stairs. The license plates, starting with "NN," suggested that the car was either from the Kremlin or a closely associated structure. There can be no doubt that the car was not private property, but belonged to the state.
 The two young politicians said a warm good-bye, jumped into the car and sped off.
 Now, just to be clear, let me say that I have nothing against people who drive expensive cars, even when they claim to be devoted representatives of the common people. But when members of a pro-government Duma faction so brazenly advertise who pays their expenses and how generously, you can't help but think that they don't care a wit for public opinion. You start to suspect that they are not counting on the support of the electorate to further their political careers but that they understand that they need "administrative resources" in order to get re-elected.
 You can imagine what a shock the recent U.S. presidential election was for our political elite. Here was Al Gore, then the second most powerful official in the country, losing the election because he didn't have the "administrative resources" to add a couple thousand votes to his tally in Florida. Everyone here was marveling at the incomprehensible impotence of the American executive branch.
 Nonetheless, I still enjoy the idea of a pro-Kremlin "Party of Liberty." It just sounds kind of nice.
 
 Yevgenia Albats is an independent journalist based in Moscow.

TITLE: Philanthropy No Excuse for Businessmen
TEXT: PERHAPS the most striking thing about the Mirilashvili affair is not the man's arrest - whatever evidence prosecutors think they have unearthed of criminal activity, Mirilashvili's contacts with various shadowy figures, his position as virtual casino king in St. Petersburg, and his overall business strength have had observers smiling sardonically at supporters' claims that "this kind man is incapable of criminal activity."
 In short, prosecutors have almost certainly had evidence to throw the book at Mirilashvili for a long time. That they have finally done so on kidnapping charges seems to be odd to many, which is why a political motive is being pinned on the case. Mirilashvili and Gusinsky are allies, Gusinsky and Media-MOST are in trouble, ergo Mirilashvili is a natural target, and may provide lots of juicy kompromat for the Russkoye Video investigation.
 That's one theory, though not the only one. But more interesting than the conspiracy theories is the wave of support Mirilashvili has received from well-known figures in St. Petersburg, particularly from leading members of the intelligentsia.
 Mirilashvili has supported many charitable organizations financially, including some that help orphans and pensioners, and has earned a reputation as a leading local philanthropist. As such, he is similar to businessmen all over Russia who contribute millions to regional schools and hospitals, while at the same time laughing at the thought of paying taxes. The further from Moscow you get, the more common this tends to be. And there are doubtless thousands, maybe millions, who depend on it and who will say that the state, which seems a long, long way away, gives them nothing.
 But it's not much of a way to run a country. Many of those "philanthropic" businessmen got the largesse they dispense by shooting their rivals, for one thing. For another, it makes for an extremely random system - a favored organization gets lots of money, while other, equally deserving causes go without because the man with the fat wallet doesn't approve of them, doesn't know about them, or got out of bed on the wrong side that morning. Lastly, such businessmen can never replace the state because they do not support law enforcement.
 If businesses spread their wealth around all a city's needy on a regular basis, then fine. But hey! That's called government. If only the oligarchs had done the same, rather than stripping state assets and funneling them offshore to build those villas. ...
 Mirilashvili's supporters are wrong to think that his donations to orphanages are enough to keep him above the law. The fact that prosecutors' application of the law may be politically motivated is irrelevant.

TITLE: A Terrible Week for Russian Writers
AUTHOR: By Tom Masters
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Tsar Alexander II had a (relatively) successful day 121 years ago. On <strong>Feb. 4 1880 </strong>the emanipator of the serfs managed to survive a fifth attempt on his life. A bomb, planted in the Winter Palace, exploded but did not harm the tsar, its intended target. Alexander II eventually ended up being blown up a year later outside the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, now more commonly known as the Church of the Spilled Blood, due to the attack. The successful attempt on his life was carried out by the &quot;People's Will&quot; revolutionary movement; a first bomb hit the tsar's carriage as he arrived at the church and after the tsar's ill-considered decision to get out and inspect the damage, a second, more accurately thrown device swiftly ended his reign.
 Peter the Great's &quot;Table of Ranks&quot; were introduced to 18th century St. Petersburg on <strong>Feb. 4 1722, </strong>279 years ago.<strong> </strong>The table, that divided all civil servants into one of 14 categories and was part of Peter's constant attempts at restructuring the ineffective imperial service, created a social hierarchy that was mercilessly satirized by Nikolai Gogol a century later.
 Gogol's St. Petersburg stories, which largely revolved around the grotesque and surreal inner worlds of low-ranking bureaucrats, sent up the vast snobbery and social climbing epidemic that Peter's table created. 
 On <strong>6 Feb. 1875, </strong>the Grand Hotel Europe opened on Mikhailovskaya Ulitsa. A luxury hotel had in fact existed on the site since the 1830s, but it was bought from its original owners, renovated to extraordinarily high standards and renamed. Its guests have included such luminaries as Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Turgenev and Isadora Duncan, as well as a host of international royalty, pop stars and presidents. 
 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, on seeing the vast scale of the palatial renovations at the hotel, commented that it represented a new trend in Russian society, showing &quot;the growing influence of America and the businessman's credo.&quot;
 The author of Crime and Punishment himself also had a bad day on <strong>9 Feb. 1881. </strong>Dostoyevsky died at his apartment on Kuznechny Pereulok and which contains a museum in his honor .
 Indeed, February is not a good month for Russian writers. On <strong>8 Feb. 1837, </strong>Russian national poet Alexander Pushkin fought a duel with French dandy d'Anth&egrave;s in the woods near to Chornaya Rechka, and after a sustaining a severe bullet wound, died a slow and agonizing death, eventually expiring two days later on <strong>Feb. 10.</strong> 
 Before heading off for the duel, Pushkin dined at what is now the Literaturnoye Kafe on the corner of Nevsky Prospect and the Moika Canal. The cafe continues to function as something of a tourist-trap, trading on its Pushkin associations today. An almost certainly apocryphal anecdote has it that after leaving the cafe by sleigh, Pushkin's wife is said to have seen him from across the street and waved, although the myopic poet could not make her out and carried on his ill-fated path.

TITLE: Zhirinovsky: When One Wife Is Not Enough
TEXT: Duma Deputy Speaker and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky has actively crusaded for the legalization of polygamy in Russia. In spite of his heated arguments based on Russia's demographic decline, Zhirinovsky failed to find enough support among his fellow deputies in the State Duma. He spoke to <strong>Kester Klomegah </strong>about his cause. Q: </strong>Your political party raised the issue of legalizing polygamy in Russia. What were your motivations for this move?
 <strong>A: </strong>Everyone is greatly concerned about the deepening demographic crisis in our country. President Vladimir Putin also raised this issue in his Children's Day address last June and called for a radical approach to arrest the crisis. So it was not on a lark that the LDPR proposed legalizing polygamy. We came up with the correct approach to the problem. The Russian Constitution allows us to change the Family Code. But every time amendments are proposed in the Duma, our lawmakers get confused. They don't know what to do. Polygamy and polyandry are already practised illegally, why not legalize it?
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>You first raised this issue in 1996, and back then the Duma was not interested in supporting it.
 <strong>A: </strong>Actually, it was during the parliamentary election campaign in 1993 that I raised this issue to boost the numbers of the dwindling Russian population. I know where this country is heading. So far there has been little open support for my proposal, but I know for sure that privately many deputies are in favor of it. They secretly support the idea. If they do not openly support me, the population will soon disappear.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>How do you hope to get a majority in the Duma to support your proposal?
 <strong>A: </strong>Everyone says the demographic situation is catastrophic. We as lawmakers have to analyze the Family Code in relation to this problem. They [the deputies] are not looking at the problem the way they should. In the next five to 10 years, when the population shrinks by a third, they will overwhelmingly vote for amendments to the Family Code and legalize polygamy and polyandry.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Maybe the question should be put to the people in a referendum?
 <strong>A: </strong>You think I am afraid of the people? Many people are trying to survive loneliness in our society. I know for sure they'll say yes.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Are you sure there are no political motives behind the polygamy proposal?
 <strong>A: </strong>There are no real political motives. This is not a move for cheap populism. There are political rivalries in the Duma; other parties envy the LDPR. That's why they react negatively to my party's initiatives. 
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Have Russian demographers said the practice of polygamy will help thousands of Russian women who are without husbands? 
 <strong>A: </strong>We know there are 9 million fewer men than women throughout the country, and we obviously need to stimulate the birth rate. But how? They [the demographers] do not say how. Instead, they keep bombarding us with their estimates of pensioners outnumbering the working population in 2010. 
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Do you think that the LDPR's polygamy proposal will really help when there are already so many broken families?
 <strong>A: </strong>In Soviet times, families enjoyed considerable support. After the collapse [of the Soviet Union], President Boris Yeltsin lost control of state affairs. He laid the political and economic foundation for broken families and suffering children. As for President Putin - we will see.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Isn't it true that the majority of Russian men are too poor to support one family, let alone several wives? 
 <strong>A: </strong>We propose placing limits to exclude men who cannot provide for more than one family. Ten percent of the male population in Russia can provide for several families, and hundreds of thousands of Russian men have families with children abroad - in Thailand, Germany, Greece, Spain, the United States, etc. Women should not go for those men who are lazy, drunk and incapable of fathering a family. If a healthy, strong and handsome man can feed two or more families, why shouldn't he?
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Do you perceive other social problems may arise as a result of the legalization of polygamy?
 <strong>A: </strong>What social problems could arise? Millions of Russian women will obtain their legal status [as wives], and they will not feel abandoned by their husbands. By the way, a poll among Russia's female population showed they are in favor of the legislation.
 <strong>Q: </strong>To which poll are you referring?
 <strong>A: </strong>You're married, but you ask any woman if she would like to marry you, and she will say yes. The newspapers are full of personal advertisements, mostly from women in search of men. We are talking about these lonely hearts.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>When the regional leader of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, signed a decree permitting men in his republic to have four wives [later declared unconstitutional by Moscow], he based that on traditional Islamic beliefs. But Russian society is based on Orthodox beliefs. How can this be reconciled?
 <strong>A: </strong>Aushev did the right thing. That way of life was established long ago over there, where they live in big families and help each other. As for the Russian Orthodox Church, if it's against polygamy, then it's against humanity and the nation's survival. Instead, they will pray when the population is nearly extinct. 
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>What's your reaction to Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov's opposition to your polygamy proposal?
 <strong>A: </strong>He doesn't understand the society in which we live. This is an idea that is gradually becoming cherished by Russians. We [the LDPR] would like to introduce changes in federal legislation to eliminate barriers preventing the establishment of normal relations between men and women. By the way, this may not necessarily allow only for multiple wives, but for multiple husbands as well. And nobody will call her [a woman with many husbands] a vulgar woman.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Would it not be more appropriate to come up with a different approach to halt the decline of the population?
 <strong>A: </strong>This is a catastrophe, shame to a Russian government that allows its population to decrease while it makes tanks, rockets, spaceships and allows fast-food chains to proliferate. The same thing happened in America, but now they have learned their lesson along with the decline of the white population. Soon, America will be ruled by the rapidly growing population of African-Americans and Latin Americans.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>What is the position of the State Duma committee on women, families and youth in regard to your proposal?
 <strong>A: </strong>The communists [dominating this committee] always oppose the Liberal Democratic Party. They were against it because communists don't support families. 
 Svetlana Goryacheva, committee chairwoman, understands Russia's demographic problems - among them a daily decline in the population of 1,000 people per day. But she has not outlined any appropriate measures. She got the Duma to reject the proposal; only 21 legislators voted for it and 271 opposed.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Back during your 1993 parliamentary campaign, you offered to father a child by any Russian woman in order to boost the numbers of the &quot;dwindling Russian race.&quot; Do you have a personal interest in polygamy?
 <strong>A: </strong>I am interested in seeing Russian women liberated from loneliness, and only polygamy can guarantee this.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Outcry Over Organs
LONDON (AP) - Britain's health secretary has called for an emergency summit to ease the public anxiety over organ donations in the wake of two reports that revealed thousands of organs had been removed from dead patients without the proper consent.
The summit, to be held in the next few weeks, will involve surgeons, health chiefs, health-care unions, business leaders and parents.
 Its aim is to make &quot;absolutely clear&quot; for patients the difference between agreeing to donate their organs after death, and organs being retained without proper consent after a post-mortem examination, Health Secretary Alan Milburn said.
Britons were horrified last week by two official reports that revealed the extent of unauthorized organ removal for research and teaching purposes. A Dutch pathologist working at a prominent children's hospital was accused of removing hearts, brains, eyes and heads from thousands of dead children without the consent of their parents.
 
Survivors Risk Lives

BHUJ, India (Reuters) - Indian authorities promised Monday to erect tent cities for hundreds of thousands of homeless people in quake-shattered Gujarat state, but many survivors were throwing caution to the wind and returning to their crumbling homes.
 Power supplies were restored to hundreds of villages in the western corner of the country, where some 30,000 people were killed by the January 26 quake, and food, water and medical supplies poured in from around the world.
 But aid workers were concerned about survivors venturing back into cracked and weakened buildings.
 &quot;People are still living in places where I wouldn't even send my team because they are so dangerous. Thousands of people are living in such places,&quot; said Colin Deiner, leader of the South African Urban Search and Rescue Team in the town of Bhuj.
 
Falun Gong Warning

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China said Monday it opposed interference from foreign governments in the sensitive issue of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, a warning made days before the Dutch foreign minister meets followers in Hong Kong.
 Falun Gong adherents in Hong Kong said they would meet Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen and Ambassador for Human Rights Rene Jones-Bos on February 12 to air grievances about China's crackdown on the movement.
 Falun Gong, which was outlawed in China in July 1999 but remains legal in China's Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, promotes a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, meditation and traditional Chinese breathing exercises.
 It has millions of followers in China. Supporters say 50,000 followers have been detained in China and many sent to labor camps without trial, while around 100 adherents have died while in detention.
 
Pro-Wahid Violence

 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Thousands of demonstrators supporting Indonesia's president attacked a university campus and burned offices of the former ruling party to protest parliament's attempts to oust him from power.
 The attacks in four towns across President Abdurrahman Wahid's home province happened just hours before legislators handed documents to police that they say links him to two corruption scandals. Lawmakers said the maneuver could bring separate criminal proceedings against Wahid, who may still face impeachment.
 Wahid has refused to quit and has denied any wrongdoing.
 In the town of Gresik, protesters threw rocks at the Muhamadiyah University. The university is run by a large Muslim group aligned with Amien Rais, the speaker of Indonesia's highest legislative body, who has called on Wahid to quit.
 
Mozambique Floods

MAPUTO, Mozambique (AP) - Floods in central Mozambique have displaced 25,000 people and the situation could worsen if more rain comes, a top disaster official said.
 Mozambique was still recovering from devastating floods a year ago that killed 700 people and caused wide spread damage when a tropical storm swept the east African nation late last month, dumping nearly 12 1/2 centimeters of rain on the coastal Zambezia province in 24 hours.
 The new flooding comes at the height of Mozambique's rainy season, which runs from November through March. Early forecasts had called for average or slightly above average rainfall this year, but even that might well be enough to send rivers pouring over their banks.
 

Embassy Bombing Trial

NEW YORK (AP) - After a 2 1/2-year wait, the judge presiding over the trial of four men accused of conspiring to bomb U.S. embassies in Africa wasn't leaving anything to chance at the end of a month-long jury selection.
 U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand said extra potential jurors would be waiting Monday in case any of the dozen jurors and six alternates chosen Thursday drop out.
 Opening statements were scheduled to begin Monday morning after jurors are sworn in to hear a terrorism case arising from the bombings that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, on Aug. 7, 1998.
 The attacks on U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were identified by prosecutors as part of a global scheme targeting Americans masterminded by Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden.

Oil Hostage Murdered

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - Kidnappers who are holding seven foreign oil workers hostage - including four Americans - in Ecuador's Amazon region are likely to murder more of their victims soon if a ransom is not paid, a former police expert said in remarks published Saturday.
 On Wednesday, the body of one victim, Ronald Sander, 54, of Sunrise Beach, Montana, was found shot five times in the back and covered with a sheet that said he had been killed because his oil company refused to pay ransom, authorities said.
 Ecuadorean authorities said negotiations with the kidnappers had stalled over the amount of ransom. Sources close to the investigation said the kidnappers refused to budge from an initial demand of $80 million.

TITLE: Unorthodox Churches Continue To Grow
AUTHOR: By Robin Swithinbank
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Residents of St. Petersburg wishing to find a place of worship are unlikely to be left wanting. Over the past decade the city has become home to a wide spectrum of Protestant and Catholic churches alongside the more traditional Russian Orthodox Church. 
 While the Orthodox Church is both architecturally and politically dominant - especially recently as the government leans controversially towards more widespread official involvement of Orthodox clerics - most Christian denominations continue to prosper in St. Petersburg.
 That said, Russian Orthodoxy is theoretically open for all. Anybody may convert - regardless of nationality - and after conversion an individual is fully accepted from a doctrinal point of view and, in most cases, from a practical one too. Since the 1980s, when there were just 18 monasteries in Russia, 462 have been opened and the Orthodox Church now boasts 17,000 full-time priests and 150 bishops.
 High Priest Boris Glebova of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, on Preobrazhenskaya Ploshchad, off Liteiny Prospect, is a formidable character. On the subject of non-Russians attending his cathedral, he simply says, &quot;We don't make any special arrangements for foreigners, but whoever comes, comes.&quot;
 The Spaso-Preobrazhensky cathedral is a typically ornate building, and a visit during service time, regardless of religious persuasion, is always an experience. All services are in Russian or Old Church Slavonic.
 Services are traditional, and foreigners, although free to observe and take part, are asked to be respectful of rituals and not to intrude with cameras. Females are also usually expected to cover their heads.
 During Orthodox festivals the cathedral is breathing space only and a visit on such an occasion is a must, if only to witness the havoc.
 Religious growth in Russia did not reach a point of stability until the late 1990s, as Major Joseph Smith of the Salvation Army explains: &quot;After 1991 there was a mushrooming of religious growth, but then an equally rapid decline as people became disillusioned and churches disappeared.&quot; The Salvation Army has had no such problems and has grown so swiftly that come June when Major Smith moves on, every Salvation Army Corps in Russia will be led by a home-grown ordained local.
 Their much publicized problems lie only in the legal decision to deny the Moscow Corps registration (a decision described by presidential administration official Alexander Kudryavstev as &quot;illiterate&quot;) which Major Smith says will not force them to evacuate as there are &quot;ways around the problem,&quot; namely to register as a national organization, possible thanks to the other registered centers that they have elsewhere in Russia. &quot;Primarily a mission,&quot; the Salvationists offer services only in Russian, but welcome Russian-speaking overseas volunteers to help in their numerous social projects. It is not uncommon for volunteers to worship in other churches and play a part in the Salvation Army's mission and it seems that one of their strengths is the diversity of their members.
 For those whose Russian is weak, English speaking churches and churches that offer translation into languages other than Russian are plentiful.
 The Immanuel Baptist International Church is entirely English speaking and was founded four years ago in order to provide support for wandering Westerners. Greta Haustein, a teacher in St. Petersburg and member of the church's congregation, describes the church as a &quot;normal Baptist church, which by definition means that it is pretty traditional!&quot;
 &quot;Students come and go every three or four months, and so we are used to welcoming new people,&quot; says Haustein.
 The same is true at All Nations Bible Church, which is a place of worship for people from many different backgrounds. Services are in a mixture of Russian and English, with songs sung in both languages, and talks are translated either from English into Russian or vice versa, with the additional option of translation into French.
 The St. Catherine Roman Catholic Church, still under restoration after an arson attack in 1984, provides masses in Russian, English, Polish, Spanish and even Korean. High Priest Yevgeny Heinrichs is keen to fulfill the needs of all those seeking to worship in the city and promises that &quot;we don't close the doors to anyone.&quot;
 Since 1992, when the church was officially returned to the Catholic Church by the city government, the parish has grown to over 600 members and now runs several programs including a Sunday school, a youth group and a family center which provides marital advice and counseling, both for couples going into marriage and couples already married.
 Someone with a vision for the city of St. Petersburg is the pastor of one of St. Petersburg's smaller churches, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Pastor Zhenya Kirichenko dismisses the idea that Russia is an Orthodox country, or indeed a religious one, arguing instead that the government is in no way Christian but secular and even pagan. &quot;The religion here is work, money, women and alcohol,&quot; he sighs, evidently distressed at the low level of church attendance in Russia.
 The Vineyard is another young church, planted only three years ago, but is growing steadily. Like the Salvation Army, it began under Western leadership but is now almost entirely Russified. Services are in Russian, although visiting preachers from around the world are frequent. Westerners are welcomed and there are several translators willing to provide for English speakers.
 For residents of St. Petersburg interested in taking up local worship, there is certainly no shortage of options. As is the case with so much of life in Russia, the future of its diverse churches is uncertain, but the city is not without those who have faith in its continuity. As Father Boris put it, &quot;God lasts forever.&quot;
 
 For more details on religion in St. Petersburg, see &quot;Worship&quot; in Friday's All About Town. The Orthodox Church's useful Web site is at www.russian-orthodox-church.org.ru/en.htm
 All Nations Bible Church, 114 Obvodny Canal, 5542-3794.
 St. Catherine's Catholic Church, 32-34 Nevsky Prospect, 311-71-70.
 Spaso-Preobrazhenskaya Cathedral, 1 Preobrazhenskaya Pl., 272-36-62.
 Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 15 Ul. Smirnova, 4th floor, 344-11-11.

TITLE: RUBLE AROUND TOWN
TEXT: Monday's ruble/dollar rates in St. Petersburg:</p><p>

Bank Address Buy Sell</p><p>
</strong></p><p>
InkasBank 44 Nevsky Prospect 27.90 28.55</p><p>
RusRegion Bank 54 Nevsky Prospect 28.35 28.65</p><p>
Promstroi Bank 4 Mikhailvsky Ulitsa 28.05 28.60</p><p>
BaltUneximbank Grand Hotel Europe 27.20 28.80</p><p>
Sberbank 2 Dumskaya Ulitsa 28.00 28.80</p><p>
PetroAeroBank 54 Nevsky Prospect 28.32 28.58</p><p>
Alfa-Bank 6 Kanal Griboyedova 27.90 28.70</p><p>
<strong></p><p>
Average 27.96 28.67</p><p>

TITLE: MAILBOX
TEXT: Dear Editor,
 </strong>Tom Masters' recent article [&quot;No End in Sight for Dual-Pricing System,&quot; Jan. 30] was very interesting, even though it is now commonplace for foreigners to complain about the difference in pricing for Russian nationals and citizens of other countries. However, I would like to draw attention to some significant errors in the author's logic.
 As was fairly noted, this so-called discrimination only affects those people who do not reside in St. Petersburg. Being employed by a company in St. Petersburg, you are granted the same rights and privileges as Russians. 
 If you have a problem obtaining a work permit or legalizing your working/residential status, you should probably address your complaint to the OVIR, but surely not to theaters and museums.
 My American boyfriend took a month of Russian classes at the St. Petersburg State University and received a student ID valid for a year, which he was able to use anywhere in the country.
 Furthermore, the claim about the system of concessions being &quot;racist&quot; is outrageous. There are different definitions of racism, but I hardly imagine that concessionary rates for people whose average salaries are limited to $100 a month are an indication of racism. 
 As a rule Russians are paid 10 to 20 times less than expats for doing the same job. There are different terms for this, but nobody dares to call it racism - which, in fact, it is.
 If theater and museum tickets become equally expensive for everyone, the city's cultural treasures will be for foreigners and New Russians only. It is unethical to call for higher prices for the 70-plus percent of Russians who live below the poverty line, and lower rates for theaters and museums for whom tourists are a major source of financing. And it is unethical to call this racism.
 
 Olga Vishnyakova,
 St. Petersburg
 
 <strong>Dear Editor,
 </strong>I read Stephen Ogden's letter concerning price discrimination against foreigners with great interest. Now everything is clear. I am a foreigner, ergo I am rich. Therefore, prices must always be higher for me and my children - not because I am being stereotyped, but because I am being &quot;price discriminated.&quot;
 This apparently explains why people pay different prices for the same items and services: not because they shop around, but because they have the proper documents. Thus, I am supposedly able to get cheaper fares or buy canned goods in Europe or in America because of my passport.
 As for acquiring a Russian residency permit, one merely has to be married to Russian citizen who has a St. Petersburg propiska. 
 Of course, there is a little paperwork to fill out: your educational background beginning with first grade, your entire employment history, including addresses and salaries, your parents' and relatives' addresses along with information about their employment histories, a complete list of every time you have crossed into Russian territory, a listing of the languages you speak, and so on. Oh, and a two- to three-page autobiography (typed, please).
 Submit these documents and wait a mere minimal six months. When you have your residency permit, you hand in your current visa. In the future, when you need to go to another country, you may be granted an exit visa. This takes three working days. If a family emergency arises and it is necessary to leave immediately, you can't. 
 When Mr. Ogden states that Russian-speaking foreigners can sneak in using Russian-priced tickets, I can think of nothing more likely to engender respect for Russian laws. This reminds me of the good old Leningrad days when I had to show my documents to purchase goods at Gostiny Dvor.
 I am sure that when Mr. Ogden buys goods and services here, he always pays 10 times more than the stated price because of his innate sense of fairness. No doubt he hands over 120 rubles every time he buys a beer from a kiosk.
 
 W. Redd Turner III,
 St. Petersburg.

TITLE: Nabokov Returns to Petersburg
TEXT: During his first visit to St. Petersburg in 1995, Dmitry Nabokov - son of Russian-born &eacute;migr&eacute; writer Vladimir Nabokov - expressed his indignation regarding the blatant copyright violations and barbarian treatment of his father's works by publishers in Russia. 
 Nabokov, now 64, arrived back in town last week to open an international conference promoting copyright in arts and culture. <strong>Galina Stolyarova</strong> spoke to him at the Grand Hotel Europe.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Have you noticed any progress in the field of Russian copyright law over recent years? 
 <strong>A: </strong>The progress I have seen explains why I am now in St. Petersburg. What upset me wasn't just the financial side - millions of copies were published here illegally before Russia signed the Berne convention on copyright law - but the lack of control over the literary element of the editions. Many of the translations were horrible, prefaces often outrageously ignorant, containing obvious nonsense. 
 I hope Russia will soon adopt the normal practice of showing respect to intellectual property, but I also realize that Rome wasn't built in a day, and it will take time.
 Apart from copyright, what must not be violated is the right to express views and opinions. This freedom shouldn't be restricted or put under threat - I'm referring to what's happening with NTV television. Whatever discipline is needed to rule a country, freedom of speech is the most essential pillar of society and so should stay inviolable.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>How is the Nabokov Museum going to develop?
 <strong>A: </strong>It is going to reopen some day soon after a six-month-long renovation, and I am looking forward to seeing the new, expanded version of the museum. My father, who was born there [at 47 Bolshaya Morskaya Ul.], would be very touched to see how the museum has evolved from its embryonic stage in 1995 to an impressive, meticulously organized collection. 
 
 <strong>Q. </strong>What effect have copyright violations in Russia had on your family?
 <strong>A. </strong>My father experienced four big losses, but he only was aware of three of them, as the last one happened after his death. The first loss was Russia - the country where he spent his youth, and had to leave; then he lost his father, who was killed during a political meeting in Berlin; the third loss was Russian - he suffered from being forced to write in English, and struggled for as long as it was possible to write in Russian but the &eacute;migr&eacute; circles were becoming sparser. Though he grew up in an anglophile family, writing in another language was a trauma, and he wasn't confident enough about his English, admitting it was his &quot;second quality language&quot; and he was always asking friends if it was correct. ...
 The fourth loss was that after he died he was deprived of the reward he deserved, when his novels were published in Russia with no royalties paid to the family, and with no respect to the text. 
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>What is your own experience in writing?
 <strong>A: </strong>My father never demanded I become a writer. He wasn't the kind of father who would only be happy for his son to continue in his own field and follow his career. 
 But in my own writing experience, I do not try to imitate my father's style in any way. The only thing I would like to take from him is originality - he was so inventive that even a Nabokovian shopping list would be fairly original reading.
 I have just finished my first novel, which soon will be published in Britain and the United States. I won't say what the book is about, I feel uncomfortable making premature comments, I just hope there will be someone who likes it, apart from myself.
 At the same time, I am preparing for publication an English-language anthology of my father's verse and critical articles never translated before. It will be comprised of two volumes, each containing about 200 poems, and the first volume is almost complete. 
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>As a reader, which writer would you consider to be Russia's most brilliant in the 20th century?
 <strong>A: </strong>What I am saying comes from the bottom of my heart. If Vladimir Nabokov and I were not related to each other, if his origin was completely obscure to me, if I knew nothing about his morality and personality, if I was unaware he was a person who valued first and foremost compassion, generosity and beauty, who abhorred and rejected brutality more than anything else ... I would still tell you the same thing:
 Every time I happen to touch a Nabokov book - to check a new translation, or to prepare another edition, or just give any of his works a read - it comes as true felicity, as the highest literary feast imaginable.

TITLE: How a Marquis Ended Up on the Street
AUTHOR: By Oleg Kryukovsky
TEXT: I grew up the spoiled youngest son in a well-off provincial family in the 1950s. I learned to read and write very early and was in the top class at school, but it didn't interest me, and because I didn't answer the teachers the way they wanted me to, they classed me as mentally retarded.
 After moving to Leningrad, I finished high school and did 1 1/2 years of military service, during which I was posted to Mongolia. That relatively carefree time gave me a taste for the easy life, and when I was demobilized, I took up a career as a thief. 
 I became well-known in Leningrad as &quot;the Marquis,&quot; and many people emulated my style. Handsome, elegant and very fashionably dressed, I inspired envy in men and admiration in women.
 By the beginning of the 1970s, I was one of the very first so-called &quot;New Russians.&quot; I had my own car, which was very prestigious for those times, and I had real authority. Then, in the mid-70s, I was arrested and given 3 1/2 years in jail for theft. The police tried to get me to work with them on my release, but I refused. 
 Within two months I found myself back behind bars, this time for four years. When I finally returned to life on the outside in 1984, it was with the conviction to go straight and work for a living.
 But things didn't work out like that. Once more the police tried to persuade me to work with them, but I turned them down on ethical grounds, as in prison I had learnt the value of &quot;honor among thieves.&quot;
 On the outside again, I won 1,000 rubles in a card game. The loser didn't have the money on him, and so he paid me with a gold ring, his sneakers and jeans, sweater, jacket, and a small amount of cash. After he had settled the debt, he told the police that I had robbed him. So I went to jail for the third time. This time I had been free for a month. I got 14 years' hard labor.
 In 1989 my mother died, but the prison warden kept this a secret from me. When I found out about it half a year later, I beat up the prison warden, for which I got a year of solitary confinement. It was there that I found God and I started going to church. In 1995 my father died. Thus I became an orphan. My brother helped find me work and somewhere to live. The pay was awful, only 124 rubles a month, but I didn't have to pay for accommodation. I had enough for food and clothes.
 In January last year disaster struck, I was diagnosed with an ulcer and spent 10 days in intensive care after the operation. When I was examined at the hospital, the doctors found traces of tuberculosis. I lost my job and accommodation. I went back to the hospital for treatment, but I was declared healthy and not given a bed.
 Now I've been without work or a place to live for over a year. 
 Two months ago, I lost all my documents and am now a total outcast. I live with the help of a charity-run tuberculosis treatment center and soup kitchen on Obvodny Canal, where they give me food and medicine.
 Over the New Year I was carrying a fir tree I bought out of town with a receipt for it, but was detained by the police. They asked me for my documents and all I could show them was my homeless certificate. I was beaten until I lost consciousness, and lost the fir tree and 120 rubles.
 I understand everything ultimately depends on me and believe that we should all try to live without losing hope.

TITLE: Batistuta Double Spares Roma's Blushes
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: Barcelona produced the performance of the weekend in European football to destroy Athletic Bilbao 7-0 in the Spanish league.
 Spanish international Luis Enrique hit a hat-trick as the Catalan club stormed into a 6-0 lead by halftime in front of 65,000 fans at the Nou Camp.
 Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich returned to the top after leaders Schalke slipped up against Energie Cottbus, but there was no change at the top in Spain, Italy or England.
 
 <strong>Italy.</strong> Argentine striker Gabriel Batistuta scored twice to give AS Roma a six-point lead at the top with a 2-1 win at Parma.
 Batistuta equalized an early Marco Di Vaio strike with a spectacular second half volley, and then hit the winner to become the league's top scorer with 13 goals.
 Compatriot Hernan Crespo scored twice and Juan Veron once in Lazio's 3-2 win over Lecce in Rome as the defending champions went level on points with second-placed Juventus, who were beaten 2-1 at Atalanta Bergamo on Saturday.
 Defender Massimo Paganin had gifted Juventus the lead with a second half own goal, but Atalanta substitute Stefano Lorenzi opened his Serie A account with his first touch to equalize.
 Former Internazionale striker Nicola Ventola hit the winner with nine minutes remaining.
 
 <strong>England. </strong>Striker Robbie Fowler continued his revival of form with a brace against West Ham that fired Liverpool into third place in the premier league.
 Czech Vladimir Smicer had given them the lead at Anfield and Fowler struck either side of half time to ensure a 3-0 victory.
 Champions Manchester United bounced back from their shock FA Cup exit to West Ham with a 1-0 home win over Everton.
 A deflected Andy Cole strike was enough to keep them 15 points clear of Arsenal, who required a late Dennis Bergkamp goal to see off Coventry City 1-0 at Highfield Road.
 Sunderland slipped to fourth after Craig Burley scored the only goal of the game for relegation-threatened Derby County.
 Tottenham Hotspur manager George Graham equaled an unwanted record at White Hart Lane against Charlton, where his team recorded their fourth successive goal-less draw, equaling the record set by Graham's 1993 Arsenal side.
 
 <strong>France. </strong>Lille won 1-0 at local rivals RC Lens to snatch the league lead back on goal difference from Nantes, thanks to an own goal from Lens defender Cyril Rool.
 Olivier Monterrubio's seventh goal of the season had helped Nantes beat Paris St. Germain 1-0.
 Sonny Anderson's two goals helped Olympique Lyon go third with a 3-2 win against En Avant Guingamp, leaving them just two points adrift of the leaders.
 The Brazilian striker hit an injury time winner, after passing the 100-mark for French league goals with his opener, joining Victor Bonilla of Toulouse at the top of the scorers charts.
 Bordeaux were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw at struggling Toulouse, with both goals coming from the penalty spot.
 
 <strong>Spain. </strong>Luis Enrique's hat-trick helped Barcelona to a stunning 7-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at the Nou Camp.
 Dutchman Philip Cocu hit two goals, with fellow countryman Marc Overmars and defender Abelardo netting the others for the Catalans, now unbeaten in 17 matches.
 Leaders Real Madrid were also involved in a seven-goal thriller, beating Malaga 4-3 at the Bernabeu to go seven points clear of Deportivo Coruna, who beat bottom club Racing Santander 2-1.
 Real's goals came from Guti, Raul (2) and Ivan Helguera, with Dutch striker Roy Makaay scoring twice for Deportivo to take his tally for the season to 10.
 
 <strong>Germany. </strong>Two goals from recalled Brazilian striker Giovane Elber helped champions Bayern Munich return to the top of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over Wolfsburg.
 German international Mehmet Scholl got the other goal against a side who have never beaten Bayern in the competition, giving them a two-point lead at the top.
 Former leaders Schalke 04 had midfielder Joerg Boehme sent off in their surprise 4-1 reverse against Energie Cottbus.
 
 <strong>Belgium. </strong>Leaders Anderlecht extended their lead at the top of the Belgian league with a comfortable 4-0 win in the snow away to Charelroi.
 Striker Tomasz Radzinski went top of the goal-scoring charts with his 17th strike of the season. Bart Goor, Jan Koller and Didier Dheedene completed the scoring against Charleroi, who had two men sent off.
 
 <strong>Netherlands. </strong>Two goals from striker Bonaventure Kalou helped Feyenoord maintain a two-point lead at the top of the Dutch league with a convincing 3-0 victory at AZ Alkmaar.
 Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson hit the other goal. Yugoslav international Mateja Kezman scored the only goal for PSV Eindhoven at Sparta Rotterdam to give the champions a 1-0 win.

TITLE: Fixing Inquiry Is Delayed
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: CAPE TOWN, South Afric - South Af rica's inquiry into cricket match-fixing has been postponed again after doubts were cast on Judge Edwin King's right to head the investigation.
 The commission was due to resume its work on Feb. 19.
 But on Monday, lawyers representing former captain Hansie Cronje, whose resignation sparked the inquiry, said they might attempt a challenge to King following a ruling in November in the Constitutional Court.
 The court ruled that a judge cannot be the head of a Special Investigative Unit. 
 &quot;I don't see why the finding ... does not mean that Judge King should head the Commission of Inquiry into match-fixing,&quot; Cronje's lawyer, Leslie Sackstein, told a newspaper on Monday.
 Sackstein said he had written to the commission to ask them to consider the impact of the No vember decision.
 Commission secretary Marina Valentine said the Feb. 19 sitting had been cancelled.
 &quot;Regardless of whether there is any merit in this view, the perception will have been created in the public mind that the proceedings of the commission under the chairmanship of Judge King may be unlawful,&quot; the statement said.
 &quot;This is intolerable ... and it would be inappropriate for Judge King to continue the Commission until clarity has been obtained.&quot;
 The judge in the Constitutional Court case was still active while King was retired when appointed.
 &quot;If [Judge King] decides to go ahead, we will have to reserve our rights. We do not want to be part of something that turns out to be unconstitutional,&quot; Sackstein said.
 The Cape High Court ruled in December against an attempt by King to impose Jan. 24 as the date for hearings to resume, and awarded damages against the Commission. Cronje was sacked in April after Indian police accused him of being involved in match-fixing. He was banned for life by the South African cricket board in October but is trying to have the ban overturned.

TITLE: Gannon Shines in Pro Bowl
AUTHOR: By John Nadel
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: HONOLULU, Hawaii - For most of Rich Gannon's career, playing in the Pro Bowl was something for other players. Having reached that level, the Oakland Raiders quarterback wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to stand out.
 Still recovering from the separated left shoulder he sustained Jan. 14 in Baltimore's 16-3 victory over the Raiders in the AFC championship game, Gannon played anyway on Sunday, albeit briefly. He wound up the player of the game.
 &quot;It's okay and getting better,&quot; Gannon said after completing 12 of 14 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns in the opening 11 minutes, igniting the AFC to a 38-17 victory over the NFC. &quot;It's still not 100 percent healthy, but I was able to get out of there today without getting slammed. So that's important.
 &quot;I've loved it here so much, we're heading to Maui next week.&quot;
 The 35-year-old Gannon was playing in his second Pro Bowl since signing a four-year, $16 million contract with the Raiders in 1999. Before that, he spent most of his first 11 NFL seasons as a reserve with Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City.
 He sure made his coach proud.
 &quot;The guy had a serious injury, he rehabilitated it extremely hard,&quot; said Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who led the AFC to its fourth victory in the last five Pro Bowls, trimming the NFC's lead to 16-15 since the game went to its present format in 1971. &quot;He wanted to be here, and he wanted to play.
 &quot;For him to win 13 games as a starter and be the starting quarterback in the Pro Bowl and then win the player of the game, I think really answers his critics.&quot;
 Afterward, the player who led the Raiders to their best season in 10 years credited his AFC teammates.
 &quot;These guys are incredible, you feel like you're driving a Ferrari,&quot; Gannon said. &quot;I feel like a kid in a candy store today, it's just amazing.&quot;
 Gannon threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez and a 16-yarder to Marvin Harrison before being replaced by Peyton Manning, who also threw two scoring passes - a 2-yarder to Jimmy Smith in the second quarter and a 24-yarder to Indianapolis teammate Marvin Harrison in the third period.
 Gannon's two TD passes and a 29-yard field goal by Matt Stover gave the AFC a 17-0 lead a little over a minute into the second quarter. The NFC wasn't closer than 14 points after that.
 At that stage, the AFC had 14 first downs and 231 yards of offense to no first downs and 6 yards for the NFC.
 &quot;Coach Gruden told me all week, 'I expect a big game out of you and I'm going to throw it to you,'&quot; said Gonzalez, who had six receptions for 108 yards - all in the first half. &quot;Rich was putting that ball in the perfect spot for all of us.&quot;
 The NFC got a 48-yard field goal from Martin Gramatica in the second quarter, and touchdown passes of 17 yards from Donovan McNabb to Terrell Owens and 20 yards from Daunte Culpepper to Torry Holt in the third period.
 It was 31-17 when Jason Taylor batted down Culpepper's pass to Owens on fourth-and-1 from the NFC 44-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Edgerrin James ran 20 yards for a touchdown three plays later to clinch the AFC victory.
 &quot;They got up on us because they were very sharp,&quot; NFC coach Dennis Green said. &quot;Gannon really worked the tight end. It took a while for us to get into rhythm on defense, and we had some drops on offense. We're kind of young, they had the experience.&quot;
 Twenty-six of the NFC's 43 players were making their first Pro Bowl appearance, while 16 of the AFC players were competing for the first time ever.
 Manning completed 16 of 22 passes for 150 yards, and Elvis Grbac was 4-of-6 for 59 yards, giving the AFC a Pro Bowl record-tying 32 completions in 42 attempts for 369 yards.
 &quot;It's always fun when you win. Last year, we didn't win,&quot; said Manning, referring to the NFC's 51-31 victory.

TITLE: Marbury Foils 76ers as Knicks Scrape Past Heat
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey - Stephon Marbury scored 11 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter as the New Jersey Nets rallied from a 10-point deficit for a 96-89 victory over the NBA-leading Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.
 Headed to his first All-Star Game, Marbury made 11-of-23 shots and handed out nine assists as he outdueled fellow All-Star Allen Iverson.
 &quot;This win is big for us,&quot; Marbury said. &quot;We played hard and we played with a lot of confidence.
 Keith Van Horn and rookie Kenyon Martin scored 20 points apiece for the Nets, who scored 34 points in the fourth quarter and beat the 76ers for the first time in three meetings this season. New Jersey snapped a seven-game losing streak
 &quot;Unbelievable effort from our guys,&quot; coach Byron Scott said. &quot;I think that the guys have been playing hard and it finally paid off. It just happened to be against the best team.&quot;
 Philadelphia blew a 15-point second-half lead and lost to an Atlantic Division foe for the second straight game. Prior to Friday's double-overtime loss to Orlando, the Sixers were 12-1 against division foes and 19-0 against teams under .500.
 &quot;These are the scariest games to play,&quot; Iverson said. &quot;These are teams with a losing record and then sometimes you come in here and have a letdown.&quot;
 Iverson scored 32 points but just two in the fourth quarter. All-Star Theo Ratliff had a season-high 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocks for Philadelphia (35-13).
 In Miami, Glen Rice scored 29 points as the New York Knicks beat the Heat 103-100 in overtime in another nail-biter between the bitter rivals that went down to the last second.
 On an inbounds pass, Charlie Ward found Rice all alone for a layup and the 103-100 advantage with 2.3 seconds left in OT. Eddie House's three-point attempt at the final buzzer barely grazed the rim.
 Miami had other chances.
 Bruce Bowen badly missed his first free throw with 4.4 seconds remaining in OT and the Heat trailing by two points.
 Eddie Jones, an 86 percent foul shooter, missed two free throws with the game tied 91-91 and 41 seconds left in regulation. Jones finished with 21 points but disappeared after half-time, scoring just five points on 1-of-10 shooting.
 Ex-Knick Anthony Mason also had 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat, who had a nine-game home winning streak stopped.
 Charlie Ward scored 19 points and Allan Houston 17 for the Knicks, who have won three of four following a three-game losing streak. Like Jones, Houston disappeared in the second half, scoring just one point.
 The Knicks won despite managing only one basket over the last 7:52 of the fourth quarter.
 Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett of &quot;Margaritaville&quot; fame was ejected from his courtside seat near the end of regulation for arguing with an official.
 In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant scored 26 points and got big boosts from Robert Horry and Greg Foster as the Lakers defeated the Western Conference-leading Sacramento Kings 100-94.
 It was the fifth straight game Lakers superstar Shaquille O'Neal sat out with a strained arch and also the fifth in which Bryant led the team in scoring.
 However, the NBA's leading scorer allowed his teammates to get involved early.
 &quot;It seems like we're starting to get back on the right page,&quot; Bryant said. &quot;We're starting to figure some things out as a team, as a unit, how to win together.&quot;
 &quot;They turned a corner this week and started playing together hard and defensively started helping each other out,&quot; Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. &quot;I don't know why.&quot;
 Horry scored a season-high 20 points off the bench.
 Foster, starting in place of O'Neal, scored 11 of his 13 points in the first quarter and also grabbed nine rebounds.
 In Boston, Antoine Walker scored 36 points and snared 11 rebounds as the Celtics extended their win streak to six games with a 103-82 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
 Paul Pierce added 22 points for the Celtics, who are on their longest winning streak since a nine-game run during the 1992-93 season. The Celtics improved to 9-4 since Jim O'Brien replaced Rick Pitino as coach.
 Cleveland lost its sixth straight.
 In Phoenix, Jason Kidd missed eight of his first 10 shots but connected on two key jumpers in the final three minutes as the Suns held off the Charlotte Hornets 85-82.
 Kidd finished with 11 points, nine assists and six rebounds despite 4-of-12 shooting.

TITLE: Dave Love III Breaks Losing Streak With Course Record
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: PEBBLE BEACH, California - He had not had a PGA Tour victory in more than 2 1/2 years, and Davis Love III, in spite of his elite reputation and world ranking, admitted that he was disappointed.
 That disappointment ended on Sunday when he fired a course-record 63 at Pebble Beach for a one-stroke victory over Vijay Singh in the $4 million AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
 &quot;I wasn't frustrated, because I had played well,&quot; said Love. &quot;But I couldn't get the win. And when I teed off today I was not thinking of winning, only of trying to get on to the Ryder Cup team, things like that.&quot;
 But by the eighth hole in the final round, his thinking had changed - for good reason. He played the opening seven holes up the bluffs and down to Carmel Bay in eight under par. He birdied every one of them except the 502-yard second.
 That one he eagled, chipping in from 100 yards for a three.
 &quot;And then I looked up on the leader board, and I was right there,&quot; said Love.
 More importantly, he also was right there after the final putt with a 28-35 - 63, a Pebble course record, and a 72-hole total of 16-under-par 272.
 That was a shot better than Singh, co-runnerup last year, and two shots ahead of third-round co-leaders Olin Browne and Phil Mickelson.
 Mickelson, 15 under through 17, could have tied with a birdie on the famed 540-yard, par-five 18th, and went for the green in two, as did Love.
 But Mickelson, a lefty, faded the ball into Carmel Bay, and was doomed. &quot;I'd never hit it into the ocean before,&quot; said Mickelson, who won here in 1998.
 Tiger Woods, who won this tournament and the U.S. Open last year at Pebble, had a desultory, even-par 72 and finished at eight-under 280. That tied for 13th, eight shots back. &quot;I played good,&quot; said Tiger. &quot;But these greens made it hard to get it going.&quot;
 Not for Love, who had gone 62 tournaments between his 13th and 14th Tour victories. His last win was at the MCI Classic at Harbour Town, South Carolina, in April 1998.
 Love's stretch of seven holes with nothing worse than a birdie was a Tour record, and the 63 was the lowest at Pebble in normal conditions. Previously there was a 62 by Tom Kite under winter rules, when lifting the ball and cleaning it off because of muddy fairways is allowed.
 &quot;I didn't hit my drive off the first tee thinking I had a chance to win,&quot; said Love. &quot;But when I got to 10 at eight under, I had a chance. I'm thrilled to have won. Obviously, the last few years I've let a whole lot of opportunities go.&quot;

TITLE: England Impress With Welsh Thrashing
AUTHOR: By Mitch Phillips
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - With the opening weekend of the Six Nations championship over, England are already 4-1 on favorites to win the title and odds-on for the Grand Slam.
 Their six-try 44-15 demolition of Wales silenced an intimidating Millennium Stadium on Saturday and, coming after wins over South Africa, Argentina and Australia late last year, it underlined their status as Europe's premier team.
 Arguments in favor of France were seriously undermined by their labored 16-6 victory over Scotland in Paris on Sunday, leaving Ireland as the only team apart from England with any worthwhile cause for celebration.
 Missing two of their best players in center Brian O'Driscoll and winger Kevin Hickey, they produced a sparkling display of running rugby to beat Italy 41-22 in Rome.
 The Irish now host France in two weeks' time full of confidence while England will expect a record score against Italy at Twickenham.
 Scotland and Wales will lick their wounds and then face off at Murrayfield.
 The championship, and possible grand slam decider, looked like being England's home game against France on the final weekend on April 7.
 But on the basis of the opening games the title could hinge on Ireland v England two weeks earlier.
 Graham Henry, Wales and British Lions coach, described England's display as one of the best performances he had seen by a European team and he will already have penciled in a dozen of the men in white for his Lions squad.
 But that trip to Australia is five months away and England will be concentrating very much on securing the grand slam they have let slip in the last two seasons.
 Center Will Greenwood took the plaudits at Cardiff with his hat-trick of tries but he was the first to pay credit to England's dominant forwards, led brilliantly by captain Martin Johnson who was playing his first game since a five-week ban.
 &quot;They created the platform and there was a lot of space out wide,&quot; he said.
 &quot;I scored three tries but they were team tries. It was a lot of fun.&quot;
 It was also fun for the fans, England and neutral alike, who were treated to a display of incisive running and inventive play that had manager Clive Woodward beaming with pleasure.
 Flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson is looking more confident with every game and Woodward must still have sleepless nights about his decision to drop Wilkin son for the 1999 World Cup quarter-final against the Springboks.
 Woodward is not a man given to looking over his shoulder as his bold decision to shake up a winning team showed.
 The introduction of Iain Balshaw at fullback was an inspired move and added another ace to England's ever-improving backline.
 The only bright note for Wales was Neil Jenkins becoming the first player to reach the 1,000 points mark in international rugby but it was small consolation.
 &quot;There was a pretty big gap between the teams today,&quot; Henry said.
 Ireland was delighted with their showing, center Rob Henderson matching Greenwood with a hat-trick as they won their opening game for the first time in 13 years.
 The return of O'Driscoll will add even more spice to their backline and the clamor for tickets for France's visit to Dublin will be enormous.
 Coach Warren Gatland, however, was the first to recognize that France represent a much stiffer test than the naive and undisciplined Italians.
 &quot;It's far too early for us to be talking about winning titles,&quot; he said. &quot;And we know there are lots of areas we need to improve in.&quot;
 French counterpart Bernard Laporte was singing from the same hymn sheet after enduring a disjointed French performance in an almost-silent Stade de France.
 &quot;There is lots to work on,&quot; he said. &quot;We had a terrible first half - you can't be happy when you make so many mistakes, when you drop so many balls.
 &quot;I drew some relief from the second half, because the guys proved they have heart and pride and I'm sure last year we would have lost a game like this.&quot;
 Winger Philippe Bernat-Salles scored the only try of a scrappy, mistake-ridden game early in the second half.
 Scotland were severely hampered by the injury loss of flyhalf Gregor Townsend after just four minutes and looked rudderless without him.
 Tickets for their next game against Wales are likely to be plentiful.

TITLE: Gdye by pomytsya?
TEXT: If you like it hot, a trip to a <strong>Russian banya</strong> might be just the
 thing to cut the winter chill. And you can't beat the prices
 - not even with a birch branch: Standard class banya facilities
 run at a flat rate of 12 rubles 60 kopeks for 90 minutes in most
 facilities, with luks available at around 75 rubles (about $2.50).
 Bring slippers, soap/shampoo and a towel - although most of these
 are usually available for hire or sale at the banyas themselves.
 The banshchiki provide cotton sheets to wrap yourself up in for
 a few extra rubles. Bathing attire is often optional. The following
 are some of the better establishments in St. Petersburg. S lyogkim
 parom!</p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Banya 45: </strong>12 Makarenko Pereulok (114-34-47) M: Sennaya / Sadovaya,
 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Wed. through Sunday. Cold dipping pool recommended.
 </p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Banya 24: </strong>9 Laboratornaya Ul. (540-58-21) M: Pl. Lenina, 8
 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Mon., Tues., Fri. through Sun. Check schedule
 for men- and women-only days.</p><p>
. <strong>Kazachy Bani: </strong>11 Bolshoi Kazachy Pereulok (315-07-34) M: Pushkinskaya,
 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily except Mon. and Tues.</p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Krugliye Bani: </strong>29-A Ul. Karbishyeva (550-09-85) M: Pl. Myzhestva
 (take the bus from Lesnaya); Round outdoor swimming provides
 for nice evening star-gazing.</p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Nevskiye Bani: </strong>5-7 Ul. Marata (311-14-00) M: Mayakovskaya,
 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thurs. through Sun; Large and centrally located.</p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Pushkarskiye Bani: </strong>1 Chaykovskovo (273-76-04) M: Chernyshevskaya</p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Smolninskiye Bani: </strong>7 Ul. Krasnovo Tekstilshchika (110-09-50)
 M: Chernyshevskaya</p><p>
</p><p></p><p>
</p><p>. <strong>Yamskiye Bani: </strong>9 Ul. Dostoyevskovo (312-58-36) M: Dostoyevskaya;
 Individual rooms, sauna, tanning, fitness center; open daily
 9 am to 9 pm.

TITLE: PRICE WATCH
TEXT: As is the case with almost any purchase, prices on Nevsky Prospect
 are higher than further out of town where the cost of film can
 be up to 25% less. Development is generally charged per picture,
 occasionally with an additional charge for negative development.
 Prices remain largely unvaried across the city. </p><p>
</p><p>
<strong> Price in rubles</p><p>
PASSAZH Shopping Center</strong>, 44 Nevsky Prospect</p><p>
<strong>Film</p><p>
</strong>Kodak Ultra 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 68/90</p><p>
Fuji Superia 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 83/90</p><p>
<strong>Processing</p><p>
</strong>10x15 / 15x20 cm, per picture 2. 55/5.80</p><p>
<strong>KODAK,</strong> 54 Nevsky Prospect </p><p>
<strong>Film</p><p>
</strong>Kodak Ultra 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 101/110</p><p>
Fuji Superia 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 94/108</p><p>
<strong>Processing</p><p>
</strong>10x15 / 15x20 cm, per picture 2.50/5.00</p><p>
<strong>KODAK Photo Center, </strong>Gostiny Dvor 40-1 (south entrance to Metro)</p><p>
<strong>Film</p><p>
</strong>Kodak Ultra 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 88/115</p><p>
Fuji Superia 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 94/116</p><p>
<strong>Processing</p><p>
</strong>10x15 / 15x20 cm, per picture 3/6</p><p>
<strong>FUJILAB, </strong>Tunnel at Chernaya Rechka Metro Station</p><p>
<strong>Film</p><p>
</strong>Kodak Ultra 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 60/80</p><p>
Fuji Superia 400 ISO 24/36 exp. 66/83</p><p>
<strong>Processing</p><p>
</strong>10x15 / 15x20 cm, per picture 2.50/5.00

TITLE: North Americans Triumph in All-Star Romp
AUTHOR: By Alan Robinson
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: DENVER, Colorado - Halfway through the highest-scoring NHL game ever, some fans probably wondered which of Sunday's All-Star affairs would feature more scoring - the NHL or the Pro Bowl.
 For the record - and, yes, there were lots of records in a game that resembled hockey only in that there was a puck and two nets - the final score was North America 14, World 12.
 No, the World team didn't miss a potential game-winning field goal at the end.
 With no hitting, no checking, no penalties, no neutral-zone traps and precious little defense, NHL All-Star games aren't for hockey purists, or for goaltenders. But never in 50 previous All-Star games had there been anything like 14-12, not even in the days when Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux annually traded goals.
 Sure, Denver fans are accustomed to high-scoring games in their thin air. But, for gosh sakes, not indoors. This was more fitting for that showplace of scoring, Coors Field, than for the climate-controlled Pepsi Center.
 &quot;It was exhausting,&quot; said North American goaltender Martin Brodeur, who made some remarkable saves even while allowing five goals in the third period. &quot;Once a year for this, that's enough.&quot;
 There was so much scoring that 18 players had one goal or more, led by surprise MVP Bill Guerin's three goals. The offensive pace was so frenetic that ABC-TV missed a goal while taking a commercial break during the third period.
 Of course, with 26 goals, four more than any previous All-Star game, it wasn't like anybody really noticed. Perhaps the only surprise was that Lemieux, making his return to the All-Star stage after ending a 3 1/2-year retirement, wasn't one of seven players with at least two goals. He settled for a goal and an assist.
 &quot;Usually, 12 goals win the game,&quot; deadpanned Peter Forsberg of the World team.
 With so much scoring, and the up-and-down pace so frantic, it might have been the first time in All-Star history a puck was lost during play, much like a home-run ball that disappears into the dead of night.
 After Philadelphia's Simon Gagne scored in the third period to put North America up 11-8, linemate Lemieux asked the referee for the puck, but it couldn't be found.
 Later, the missing puck was discovered behind one of the in-net cameras that got plenty of use. Five sets of goals came less than a minute apart.
 &quot;I definitely wouldn't want to be a goalie in this game,&quot; World team defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh said.
 World teammate Alexei Kovalev said fans like a lot of scoring, but even he wondered if a game that so little resembled regular-season NHL hockey was a good advertisement for the sport. It was almost like baseball passing off a home-run derby as a true representation of the game.
 &quot;You get a lot of goals and I think it's really exciting for the people who come to the game, but scoring goals from all of those different players ...&quot; Ko valev said.
 Of the 42 All-Stars, Guerin seemed one of the least likely to win the MVP award. Before the game, it was widely anticipated that Lemieux, who had 20 points in only eight All-Star games, might add to his already magical comeback by winning a record fourth MVP award.
 But, reunited with former linemate Doug Weight, with whom he played in Edmonton before being traded to Boston in mid-November, Guerin had the 12th three-goal game in All-Star history. He also had two assists.
 &quot;Doug and I are the best of friends and we really enjoyed playing together,&quot; said Guerin, who was already enjoying a career year with 27 goals. &quot;This is pretty hard to believe. I was thrilled just to be picked.&quot;
 The Guerin-Weight-Tony Amonte line was so successful - Amonte had two goals - that it almost seemed to be auditioning for U.S. Olympic coach Herb Brooks. The initial picks for the 2002 U.S. team will be made next month. &quot;Being American, we're very proud about it,&quot; said Weight, who remembered the World team's dominating 9-4 victory over North America last year in Toronto. &quot;We had some pride issues coming into the game.&quot;
 Lemieux also was pleased with his first All-Star game since 1997, even if he didn't get three more points to tie Gretzky's record of 25 points in All-Star play.
 Lemieux was credited with a game-high nine shots, but scored only on a second-period breakaway against goalie Roman Cechmanek.
 &quot;You have to be lucky a little bit in the All-Star game to get three, four, five or six points,&quot; Lemieux said. &quot;So today was not the day.&quot;
 He almost sounded like a goaltender rather than a six-time scoring champion.
 
 Guerin's All-Star hat trick was the second in as many years. Pavel Bure had one last year while winning the MVP award, but he didn't have a goal Sunday. The previous All-Star scoring record was 22 goals, in the Prince of Wales Conference's 16-6 victory over the Campbell Conference in 1993. Guerin's five points were one shy of Lemieux's record in 1988. Fredrik Modin won the fastest-shot contest Saturday, then turned playmaker Sunday with four assists, one short of Mats Naslund's record five in 1988. Lemieux has 12 All-Star goals, one shy of Gretzky's record 13.