SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #644 (11), Tuesday, February 13, 2001
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TITLE: Putin's Visit Bolsters Kuchma
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: DNIPROPETROVSK, Ukraine - Russian President Vladimir Putin met embattled Ukrainian counterpart Leo nid Kuchma on Monday but kept his eyes firmly on trade and energy issues rather than a political scandal sweeping Ukraine. 
 The timing of the visit - after weeks of street protests calling for Kuch ma to resign - led some commentators to describe Putin's trip as a show of support by former colonial master Russia for weak and impoverished Ukraine's leader. 
 The presidents met in what was once one of the Soviet Union's main nuclear missile factories in the southeastern city of Dnipropetrovsk - which Kuchma used to run - and signed trade agreements on aerospace, space, and electricity. 
 Ukraine's slow economic reform has left it floundering behind faster-developing European neighbors like Poland, forcing it back into Russia's sphere, with which it does most of its trade. 
 "We didn't talk about politics, honestly," a smiling Kuchma told reporters after a signing ceremony in front of a huge civilian booster rocket at the Yuzh mash factory. 
 Putin said during a news conference the two sides had resolved a lot of business and trade issues. He repeated several times that his trip had been planned long in advance. 
 Putin arrived in Ukraine from Austria early on Monday, just hours after thousands of protesters marched through the capital Kiev on Sunday, many chanting, "Kuchma out! Kuchma out!" A coalition of opposition groups is pressing for Kuchma's resignation or impeachment over tapes recorded secretly last year that purport to show Kuchma ordering officials to "deal with" a critical journalist, Geor giy Gongadze. 
 A headless corpse, the DNA of which police say is likely Gongadze's, was found outside Kiev in November. Kuchma denies all involvement and has accused outsiders of trying to destabilize his country. On Saturday, Kuchma abruptly ousted the chief of Ukraine's security service, Leonid Derkach, and the head of the state bodyguard department, Volodymyr Shepel, which many Kuchma opponents see as circumstantial proof that the tapes were genuine.
 The main commercial agreement which Putin and Kuchma helped broker was one for Russia's RAO UES electricity monopoly to link Ukraine's power grid back to Russia's. 
 It was cut off in 1999 in one of Ukraine's many debt arguments with Russia, to which it still owes around $1.4 billion for gas. 
 "The document on connecting Russian electricity is a colossal step after all the documents I signed with Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] on regulating so-called gas problems," Kuchma said. 
 Putin said: "I just want to add that our meeting today was a planned one and we fulfilled promises we gave to our industrialists and business people at a meeting in December last year in Moscow." 
 They also signed agreements on destroying leftover booster rockets from Soviet-era nuclear missiles, which have already been stripped of their warheads, and pledged to carry out a series of mutual cultural projects. 
 Despite the domestic political pressure on Kuchma, Ukrainian political analysts say it is unlikely he will resign, especially since he has already weathered months of attacks since the tapes were published last November. 
 He was quoted by prosecutors last week as admitting that some conversations on the tapes had taken place, but said other parts had been edited to put words in his mouth. 
 In a surprise move, he sacked the head of the SBU (formerly KGB) security service, Leonid Derkach, on Saturday - the first conciliatory move made to the opposition since the scandal broke.
 
 - Reuters, AP

TITLE: Truckers Make It Around World
AUTHOR: By Kevin O'Flynn
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The squat figure of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov peeped out of the Zil truck as he drove the last 500 meters of a remarkable journey that had lasted four months and covered 24,075 kilometers.
 Luzhkov had the easy bit, though. He only drove the relatively clean road from the mayor's office, down Tverskaya to Manezhnaya Ploshchad. 
 The crew, seven Russians led by Italian businesswoman Stefania Zini, had driven three of the monster trucks across snowed-in tundra and the frozen beaches of Russia's most isolated spots on the first round-the-world journey of its kind. 
 The trip grew out of Zini's idea of driving her Landrover to Uelen, a village at the far end of Russia on the northernmost tip of largely roadless Chukotka. "At the start it was a little bit more modest," Zini said in an interview Monday. 
 She approached Russia's famous explorer Dmitry Shparo and his Adventure Club for help, and the idea began to take on a new life of its own.
 In February, three Zil trucks set out from Moscow to travel through Novosibirsk, Yakutsk and up to Uelen. It was only there that they decided to carry on, and the Zils were transported across the Pacific to Seattle. 
 They drove across Canada to New York and took a trip down Broadway before shipping the trucks to England for the last leg across Europe. The convoy reached Moscow on Saturday, becoming the first trucks to go round the world.
 Zini, who moved to Moscow 10 years ago and works as the Italian representative for the kitchen and furniture shop Chic, had long been an autosport fan, driving from Moscow to Beijing and Tehran in her Landrover and snowmobiling along frozen rivers and reservoirs from Moscow to Murmansk.
 But after figuring out that her Landrover wasn't quite up to the challenges of Chukotka, she and Shparo's club gathered together a team of drivers, engineers, sponsors and three trucks provided by Moscow's Zil factory.
 The factory gave Zini a course in truck driving and although she had to change gears with both hands at first, she soon passed the test for her truck-driving license. "I built up the muscles here," Zini joked, holding her biceps. She estimates she drove 10,000 kilometers on the journey. 
 With nearly half the journey in Russia over frozen land, they set out in February to reach Chukotka in early spring before the thaw had begun. Part of the way was over roads made by local villagers by driving over the snow and compacting it. For the last 850 kilometers after the village Mys Shmidta, though, the trucks had to push their way through themselves.
 As they left Mys Shmidta, Zini says the locals told them: "You're mad," and "You'll be back soon, the last person to leave turned back after 40 kilometers."
 It was here that the two drivers on the crew from Chukotka came into their own as they edged the trucks forward centimeter by centimeter, carefully judging whether the compacted snow was strong enough to hold the vehicles. The rest of the team walked ahead testing the snow as wind whipped them and temperatures fell to minuw 45 degrees Celsius. 
 "They're specialists and can sense where a truck can go and where it can't," said Zini, who speaks perfect Russian. 
 Progress was no more than 10 kilometers a day and the team was forced to dig out the trucks more than once, but the weather held out. The day after they arrived in Uelen, the storm began.
 It was in Chukotka that the question arose of what to do with the trucks and they decided to carry on around the world. The crew returned home as it took six months of organization to get the trucks to the United States.
 Despite the fact that Alaska was less than 100 kilometers away across the Bering Strait, they were forced to transport the trucks by ship to Vladivostok and from there to Seattle.
 Traveling across North America and Europe was not as simple as it may seem compared to Chukotka. Most of the drivers had never driven abroad, with one never having driven outside Chukotka before the journey. 
 "The biggest problem was that the local authorities and local customs officers could not understand what you were doing," Zini said. "They all thought you had some commercial aim [and] were scared you were going to leave the truck there or sell it."
 As well as driving, Zini also was heading up the otherwise all-male expedition, a role she found tough.
 "You have to learn how to associate in that society, how to relate to each person ... so as not to offend them, but still be sure that they listen." 
 "She was a real captain," said one member of the crew, Kirill Zhuravlev, an engineer with the Zil plant.
 "What I saw on those four months is something most people won't see in their lives."

TITLE: Minister: BSE Scare May Boost Our Beef
AUTHOR: By Natasha Shanetskaya
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Mad cow disease, which is causing panic in Western Europe, poses no threat to the Russian meat industry and could prove to be a blessing in disguise, Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergei Dankvert said.
 Fears about the contaminated meat have led Russia to ban most imports from Europe which, in turn, is providing a boost for the domestic beef industry, Dankvert said in a telephone interview.
 "Since we reduced cattle and beef imports from Europe, the mentality of our [agriculture] industry has changed," Dankvert said. "We are starting to realize we need to raise our own meat instead of looking to the West."
 While Europe has recorded more than 180,000 cases of BSE over the past 15 years, lack of technological progress in Russia has prevented the disease from reaching its borders, Dankvert said.
 It is believed that cattle catch the disease from feed containing ground bone.
 "We have been feeding vegetable-derived proteins to our animals for the past 10 years," Dankvert said. "Local meat farmers run a low risk of exposure from BSE - most farmers have not used feed from bone meal since the late '80s because they had no money to buy expensive fodder from abroad."
 Western officials, however, fail to share the Agriculture Ministry's optimism about Russia's immunity to mad cow disease. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization this week named Russia as one of up to 100 countries outside Western Europe at risk due to British shipments of infected meat and bone meal. Britain exported such products until 1996.
 The World Health Organization lists Russia as a recipient of contaminated beef.
 Dankvert said, however, that no cases have been recorded in Russia.
 The mad cow scare led Russia to halt beef imports from Britain, Portugal and Switzerland and cut shipments from France, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland.
 As a result, out of the more than 4 million tons of meat Russians consumed last year, less than 1.4 million tons came from abroad, according to the Agriculture Ministry. Beef imports totaled about 320,000 tons.
 But meat producers point out that Russians love their meat and the domestic sector cannot produce nearly enough to satisfy their appetites.
 Moreover, the number of livestock has fallen from 57 million in the early 1990s to just over 27 million in 2000, according to the government's Center for Economic Analysis and Forecast. The number of cattle has dropped by almost half, from 21 million in 1990 to 12.7 million last year.
 Some meat producers fear that the ban on beef imports will lead to an increase in beef prices and hurt sales. 
 In a bid to release some pressure, Russia sealed a $19 million deal with the German state of Bavaria on Wednesday to import 10,000 tons of beef with an option for another 10,000 tons, Reuters reported.

TITLE: Primorye Officials Resign After Talks With Envoy
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: VLADIVOSTOK, Far East - Top officials in Primorye quit en masse on Monday over an energy crisis which has already cost the region's governor his job.
 A source in the Primorye administration said that 11 of the territory's 12 deputy governors had tendered their resignations after a meeting with President Vladimir Putin's regional envoy Vladimir Pulikovsky.
 Putin has accused officials of failing to accumulate enough energy stocks and prepare the region's creaking infrastructure for an unusually harsh winter, which has left tens of thousands shivering in ice-encrusted flats, often without electricity.
 The twelfth deputy, Valentin Dubinin, was chosen to see the region through the transition period until a new governor can be chosen. He is due to make an official statement on the resignations at a Tuesday news conference, the source said.
 The departures follow the surprise resignation last week of Primorye Gov. Yevgeny Nazdratenko, who said he was stepping down after a telephone conversation with Putin.
 Nazdratenko had weathered many storms in his eight years in power, but observers said his days were numbered after Putin named him among those responsible for the crisis.
 Prosecutors in Primorye have opened dozens of criminal cases against local officials under a new penal code article which introduced punishment for failing to provide heating.
 Sergei Zhekov, the regional parliamentary speaker, has said an early election for governor may be called for June 10.
 Pictures of heavily clothed people trying to keep warm under layers of blankets in their apartments in Primorye have become a common sight on Russian television this winter.
 Temperatures dipping at times below minus 50 Celsius have laid bare the deficiencies of decrepit heating systems and prompted Moscow to despatch extra funds, coal and workers to help the region cope.
 The crisis forced Putin to intervene personally. He sacked his energy minister and ordered management changes in the electricity monopoly, chiding both for allowing the situation to develop.

TITLE: Ustinov Property Is Probed
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russian President Vla dimir Putin has ordered Krem lin auditors to investigate how the country's top prosecutor procured his apartment, a Kremlin official said Monday. 
 Vyacheslav Ivanov, first deputy chief of the audit department, said the department was conducting the investigation at Putin's request. He did not say when the order was given. 
 NTV television, the flagship station of the embattled Media-MOST holding company, reported last year that Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov had not paid taxes on the luxury apartment he received from the government. 
 NTV also implied that there was a conflict of interest. Ustinov received use of the apartment from former Kremlin property manager Pavel Bo ro din, who became a target of corruption investigations in Russia and Switzerland. 
 In December, Ustinov's office closed the Russian investigation into allegations that Borodin had received tens of millions dollars in kickbacks from a Swiss construction company that renovated the Kremlin, citing lack of evidence. 
 But Swiss prosecutors have pressed forward with the probe. Borodin was arrested at New York's Kennedy Airport last month on a Swiss warrant and is in jail awaiting an extradition trial. 
 Ustinov has denied wrongdoing, and last year he filed a suit against NTV over its reports. In January, the Moscow City Court ordered NTV to retract the allegations. 
 NTV and Media-MOST have been locked in a fierce battle with prosecutors who accuse their founder Vladimir Gusinsky of fraud. Gusinsky is under house arrest in Spain pending trial on a Russian extradition request, and one of Media-MOST's financial managers is in jail in Moscow.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: CIA Bewilders Russia 

MOSCOW (AP) - The Foreign Ministry expressed astonishment Friday over CIA director George Tenet's description of Russia as a security threat and his allegations that President Vla dimir Putin is trying to return the country to its Soviet past. 
 Tenet last week painted a gloomy picture of Putin's Russia, saying there was little doubt that the Kremlin wanted "to restore some aspects of the Soviet past." 
 The Foreign Ministry in a two-page statement said one couldn't expect a balanced assessment from the CIA, considering its Cold-War past. "But, in spite of this, a series of statements by George Tenet are astonishing, to put it mildly," it said.
 
Gluck Leaves 
MOSCOW (AP) - Kenneth Gluck, a U.S. aid worker held hostage for 25 days in Chechnya, left Russia on Friday as officials continued to question his account of what happened to him. 
 Gluck, director of the North Caucasus mission of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), was kidnapped Jan. 9 by masked gunmen in the separatist region and released Feb. 3 under uncertain circumstances. 
 Speaking publicly about his ordeal for the first time, Gluck said Thursday that his captors did not mistreat him, that they provided him with a kerosene lamp and a radio, and that they fed him three times a day. 
 
Weapons Destruction

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia will begin destroying deadly chemical weapon stocks this year, more than a year past deadline, but needs money from the West to help carry out the process, officials said Friday. 
 The head of the government's munitions agency, Zinovy Pak, will submit a program for disposing of the world's largest chemical arsenal - 40,000 metric tons - to President Vladimir Putin next month, said agency spokesperson Alexander Shuty.
 Disposal is planned to start "in the second half of the year," Shuty said, declining to give the cost or a time frame for completing the work. 
Kaliningrad Query 
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Reuters) - Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said she would this week raise with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov U.S. claims that Moscow has moved nuclear missiles into the Baltic coast enclave of Kaliningrad. 
 Lindh, traveling to Russia with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European external relations commissioner Chris Patten, will meet Ivanov on Thursday. 
 In January, American officials said they believed Moscow had moved short-range nuclear weapons into Kaliningrad. Russia has categorically denied the allegation.
 

'Mob Boss' Jailed

KOMOTINI, Greece (AP) - A man Russia claims is a Siberian mob kingpin was sentenced Thursday to more than 14 years in prison on charges of weapons possession and the use of forged documents. 
 Vladimir Tatarenkov, 47, was arrested near the northern Greek town of Komotini in August 1999 after Greek police received information from Interpol. He was found in possession of six handguns and six hand grenades, authorities said. 
 Tatarenkov was extradited to Moscow in June for an investigation on murder charges. He was sent back to Greece in December to stand trial for the weapons possession. Tatarenkov will be extradited to Russia to face the murder charges after serving his sentence in Greece. </style>

TITLE: Gongadze's Widow Stays Shy of Publicity
AUTHOR: By Oksana Yablokova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: KIEV - After her husband's disappearance last fall catalyzed one of Uk rai ne's biggest political scandals of the past decade, Myroslava Gongadze found herself thrust into the spotlight as &quot;the widow of a hero.&quot;
 But the wife of journalist Georgy Gon gadze wants nothing more than to lay her husband to rest; and there is nothing she wants less than to become a tool of political groups using her name to pursue their own ends.
 &quot;I'm trying not to become a flag in someone's hands,&quot; said Gongadze - who is a press secretary for the small, liberal Reforms and Order party - in a recent interview in Kiev.
 &quot;I'm used to publicity because of my job, but it feels strange that many people suddenly want me to speak at rallies and sit in various presidiums.&quot;
 Her husband's disappearance - and allegations that President Leonid Kuchma may have been behind it - have brought thousands of protesters to Kiev demanding Kuchma's resignation.
 Georgy Gongadze, who ran a news Web site critical of Kuchma's government and was known for his exposes of high-level corruption, went missing in September. Two months later, an opposition lawmaker presented parliament with audio tapes purporting to document Kuchma and his subordinates discussing ways to silence the journalist.
 Kuchma has denied any involvement in Gongadze's disappearance. Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said last week that one of the voices on the tape was the president's, but that the recordings were a heavily edited montage.
 Myroslava Gongadze, 28, has not pointed the finger at Kuchma, but she is confident the Ukrainian authorities had a hand in her husband's disappearance. In part, her suspicions are based on prosecutors' refusal to acknowledge that a decapitated body found in a forest near Kiev on Nov. 2 is that of her husband - despite DNA tests placing the likelihood that the corpse is his at 99.6 percent.
 Citing the slim possibility that Georgy Gongadze is still alive, prosecutors have informed the journalist's relatives that they want to bury the body as an unidentified corpse.
 Myroslava Gongadze is convinced the authorities do not want to admit the body is her husband's for fear that his funeral could lead to more political turmoil, while burying the corpse quietly would help mitigate public outrage.
 &quot;If the body has not been identified, there is no evidence that a murder has been committed; if there is no murder, there are no criminals who have committed it,&quot; Gongadze said.
 Georgy's mother called on lawmakers last month for more tests to determine whether her son was alive or dead. Since it was clear the elderly woman would be unable to help identify the decomposed remains of what is believed to be left of her only son, Myroslava had to go through the procedure alone.
 She said she recognized her husband by a silver bracelet found on the body and several scars. After reading extensively about the DNA tests and consulting experts, she said she has no reason to doubt the body is her husband's.
 Gongadze has many questions, which she believes will never be answered. One is why the body was placed in a refrigerator only two weeks after it was found, leaving little chance to identify it.
 &quot;Knowing Gia,&quot; she said, using her husband's nickname, &quot;we always expected provocations, but not what ultimately happened.&quot;
 The Georgian-born journalist was no stranger to danger. He had fought in several wars, including the Soviet Union's operation in Afghanistan and the war between Georgia and breakaway Abkhazia, where he was seriously wounded.
 &quot;He used to make up fairy tales for them, taught them Georgian and English. I remember the last day before he disappeared. The kids asked him to read to them but he said he was too tired and promised to do it the next day, but never did,&quot; Gongadze said. &quot;I've gotten over it. As the mother of two kids I have no right to concentrate on myself.&quot;

TITLE: Latvian, Russian Leaders Move To Mend Fences
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: TALLINN, Estonia - Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said on Sunday her weekend meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled the beginning of improved relations between the two countries.
 &quot;This is the first step to be taken on the road to continuing to improve bilateral relations between Latvia and Russia,&quot; Vike-Freiberga told a news conference at Riga Airport after meeting Putin in Innsbruck, Austria, on Saturday.
 She said they discussed minority rights, a long-standing issue between the two countries. Russia has often accused Latvia of using tough language laws and other citizenship issues to discriminate against the one-third of its 2.4 million people that are Russian speaking. Latvia denies the charge.
 Vike-Freiberga said Putin accepted Latvia's right to protect its language but asked for understanding towards those for whom it is not their mother tongue, or for those, mainly pensioners, who cannot afford administration fees related to naturalization.
 &quot;I am ready as president to look deeper into that issue to ease the situation for those people [the pensioners],&quot; Vike-Freiberga said.
 Latvia and Russia have had strained relations since the Baltic state regained independence from Moscow in 1991, after 50 years of Soviet occupation.
 Russia has also objected to Latvia's aspirations to join NATO, a move that would bring Moscow's Cold-War-era enemy to its doorstep. Vike-Freiberga said the issue was largely sidestepped for the first meeting between the two presidents.

TITLE: Investigators Release Mirilashvili Associates
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Four of seven men who were detained by police in connection with the arrest of prominent local businessman and Russian Jewish Congress vice president Mikhail Mirilashvili were released without charges Saturday, authorities said. 
 Three of those released - Alexander Aksyonov, Vitaly Mamayev and Dmitry Fyodorov - worked for Tsentrobalt security, which provided services to Mirilashvili's business concerns. All three were arrested Jan. 31. 
 The fourth was Mirilashvili's personal driver, Sergei Kiselyov, who was arrested on Feb. 2, Mirilashvili's secretary Dmitry Miropolsky said in a telephone interview Monday. He said they were released because police could find no evidence of wrong-doing. 
 St. Petersburg police arrested Mirilashvili on Jan. 23 charging him with the abduction of two businessmen in revenge for the kidnapping of his father, on Aug. 8. The arrest unleashed a firestorm of protests by Mirilashvili supporters in front of the City Prosecutor's office, who proclaimed his innocence and demanded his release on bail pending trial. 
 Aksyonov, who was released on Saturday after nine days in jail, said in a telephone interview that he was never physically intimidated by his questioners. 
 Gennady Ryabov, press spokesperson for the City Prosecutor's Office, said the four were in the clear and defended their stay in jail for questioning.
 &quot;The investigation had to isolate them from each other and inquire separately in order to make sure they didn't participate in the illegal actions,&quot; Ryabov said.

TITLE: Yakovlev: Make Russian Visas Cheaper
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Gov. Vladimir Yakovlev has floated the idea of lowering Russian visa prices for Scandinavian citizens in an effort to draw more of them to St. Petersburg. 
 Although the ultimate authority for such decisions rests with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yakovlev's spokesperson, Alexander Afanasiyev, said the governor floated the notion as a trial balloon during a press conference on Thursday to generate interest in the idea. 
 A price reduction in short-term visas for Scandinavian countries, said Yakov lev, would draw ship tours away from destinations like Tallinn, Estonia -where some tourists are estimated to spend as much as $400 a day.
 Such a boom in tourist bucks, said Yakovlev, would offset the price reductions for Russia's visa authorities and inject cash into the local economy. 
 Peter Sulinko, head of the Scandinavian Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said 3 to 5 million people from Scandinavia - mostly Finns - cross the Russian-Finnish border annually.
 &quot;Of course, the flow of tourists could grow if visa prices were made lower,&quot; said Sulinko by telephone on Monday.
 &quot;We could do this, but only without damaging our own interest - in other words, we would do this if our move was reciprocated.&quot; 
 Afanasiyev pointed to the example of Turkey, which drastically lowered visa prices for Russian citizens and caused a boom in its tourist trade. 
 &quot;Finns go to Estonia because this is very easy for them, there is no visa needed,&quot; said Afanasiyev. &quot;We could reap similar financial benefits.&quot;
 Afanasiyev reiterated that Yakovlev has no official pull on the price of visas, but added that if the governor chatted it up enough, the Foreign Ministry might concede. &quot;It is just a question of time,&quot; said Afanasiyev, adding that he expected it to happen within the next two or three years.

TITLE: Azeris Demonstrate After Racist Attack
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Huge protests broke out on Sunday in the city's southeastern Nevsky district after a small group of Azeris was allegedly assaulted by a gang of what appeared to be Russian nationalists on Saturday night, officials at the Azerbaijan Consulate said. 
 According to Azerbaijani Consul Gudsi Osmanov, a group of about 30 Russian skinheads attacked a group of three Azeris at a bus stop, beating them with wooden sticks, Osmanov said at a press conference held on Monday. 
 One victim was hospitalized and was in the intensive care unit with head wounds until Monday, when he was moved to a less critical ward. His two companions escaped serious injures. 
 On the day following the attack, about 200 Azeri residents of the city gathered on Prospect Bolshevikov, demanding that police apprehend the attackers immediately. 
 Osmanov described the scene as volatile. 
 &quot;Those gathered were very anxious, so any provocation could have led to mass disorder with serious consequences,&quot; he said. 
 Nevertheless, he praised the work of the city's police for keeping passions at bay. 
 Police told Osmanov that they have detained three suspects from Saturday's beating who fit the profile of nationalist skinheads. 
 City Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Gen nady Ryabov, however, would not confirm on Monday whether the suspects were actually members of a nationalist skinhead group, saying that the motives for the attack required further investigation. 
 But he did say that one possible motive may have been revenge. 
 &quot;A Russian was apparently beaten by some Azeris in the same district a few days earlier,&quot; said Ryabov in a telephone interview. 
 The revenge motive was echoed by Nikolai Bondarik, who heads a local far-right organization called the Russian Party. 
 &quot;The attack is consistent with the style of St. Petersburg skinheads - they don't just go out and beat up people for fun,&quot; said Bondarik in a telephone interview Monday. 
 &quot;They only fight if something serious has happened - like the beating of a Russian, for instance.&quot; 
 But Ryabov said he thought that the number of Russian attackers was exaggerated. 
 &quot;With such a huge number of attackers, someone surely would have been killed,&quot; he said. 
 Nevertheless, Osmanov said at the press conference that this weekend's incident marked the third time since he took his job as consul in 1998 that he has been called in to smooth ruffled feathers between the Russian and local Azeri community. 
 The first occasion, he said, was in 1999, when hundreds of Azeri traders nearly came to blows with as many Russian traders over the right to sell their wares at an open-air market in the Le nin grad Oblast's Volkhov district. 
 The second time was last May, when the Azeri restaurant Micky, on the Oktyabrskaya Embankment, was raided by OMON special forces troops during a wedding reception. 
 Footage taken by the guests, and subsequently shown on local television, showed masked officers forcing the bride and groom - and their 220 guests - to lay face down on the floor. A fight then broke out. No official reason for the raid was ever supplied by authorities. 
 On Sunday, meanwhile, in unrelated attacks, three Germans and two Russian girls who work for the charity fund Memorial were beaten up by skinheads on Bolshoi Prospect on the city's Petrograd Side.
 In another incident over the weekend, a parade group of 23 young skinheads were arrested, police sources said. 
 They were later released after being charged with hooliganism, a source close to the incident said.

TITLE: Agip Gets the Nod in Caspian Project
AUTHOR: By Christopher Pala
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: ALMATY, Kazakstan - The long battle to manage the world's biggest oil field development project ended Monday when members of an international consortium drilling Kazakstan's Kashagan field announced that they have elected Agip of Italy as single operator.
 The decision was originally taken in London on Friday at a meeting of the nine members of the consortium operating Kashagan, known as the Offshore Kazakstan International Operating Co., the sources said.
 It was formally presented to Vla di mir Shkolnik, Kazakstan's energy and mineral resources minister, at a meeting Monday afternoon. The Kazak government sold its share in OKIOC two years ago and has little say in the selection of an operator.
 Until now, Royal Dutch/Shell provided 80 percent of the expatriate staff but had to take each major decision after consulting its eight partners in monthly meetings, a decision-making structure that was becoming unacceptably inefficient as OKIOC prepares to bring in a second drilling platform and expand exploration, OKIOC officials said privately.
 Agip is the smallest of the four candidates, which campaigned hard for the position. Agip is already the operator for a gas and condensate field in Kara cha ganak, north of the Caspian near the Russian border.
 &quot;This kind of opportunity comes only once in a lifetime,&quot; said Robert Ebel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
 The other candidates were ExxonMobil, the world's biggest oil company; world No. 2 Royal Dutch/Shell; and No. 4 TotalFinaElf. Each started the campaign with 14.29 percent of the shares of OKIOC. British Gas has an identical share but was not a candidate for operator. BP Amoco, the world's third-largest major, bought into the consortium late and only had 9.52 percent. Faced with the impossibility of becoming operator, it agreed 10 days ago to sell its stake to TotalFinaElf.
 The French company will further increase its stake to 28.59 percent by buying Statoil's 4.76 percent, an executive close to the deal said. The sale has not yet been announced.
 At stake is a huge structure that is believed likely to yield more than 2 million barrels a day, more than the total output of some OPEC countries. It is probably the world's fifth-largest oil field, though exactly how much of its oil is recoverable is not certain.
 The oil field is 85 by 25 kilometers, a 350-million-year-old coral reef buried 5 kilometers beneath the shallows of the north Caspian Sea. It is located about 50 kilometers south of the Caspian's sparsely populated northern coast.
 Together with Tengiz, a smaller, similar oil-bearing structure located onshore 160 kilometers east of Kashagan, and several other fields, Kashagan will likely boost Kazakstan's production to 4 million barrels a day in 15 years, experts say. The total investment required for Kashagan's development is estimated to be close to $20 billion. Kashagan had been considered too difficult to drill by the Soviet authorities, who preferred to concentrate on easier fields in Siberia. Soon after independence, the Kazak government invited oil companies to bid for the project, and OKIOC was the result.
 Only two test wells have been drilled so far. But the positive results, along with a seismic survey conducted two years ago and a striking geological similarity with the Tengiz structure - both are part of what is known as the Pre-Caspian Basin - lead oilmen to conclude that the field will probably be extremely profitable in the long run.
 &quot;The only possible problem is that there could be too much gas,&quot; said one oilman knowledgeable of the drilling results.
 As operator, Agip will face a daunting array of technical challenges. None is unique, but their presence in a single oil field is, say the oilmen.
 Kashagan - named after a turn-of-the-century Kazak poet - is located in the middle of a nature preserve zone, which will entail strict environmental constraints. The oil is highly pressured and has a high content of gas and sulfur, requiring the construction of expensive treatment plants on shore. And the field is located in depths of 10 meters or less, so a berm or an island must be created for every drilling platform.
 But the most delicate problem is that the Caspian is far from any open sea. Five governments are vying for Kashagan's oil to flow through their territories, bringing lucrative transit fees and the promise of political influence:
 
 . Russia offers existing pipeline networks to Europe as well as a new pipeline from Tengiz to Novorossisk, a Russian port on the Black Sea, that is due to start carrying oil in July;
 . Turkey and Georgia, backed by Washington, are pushing for the construction of an all-new pipeline from Baku to Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Turkey, fearing an environmental disaster, is anxious to staunch the already-steep increase in tanker traffic through the Bosporus;
 . Iran argues that the cheapest pipeline route lies through the Persian Gulf, the nearest point to Asia's growing energy markets. Oil companies tend to agree, though there are questions about financing because of U.S. sanctions against Tehran;
 . A pipeline to China's Sin-Kiang province, which abuts Kazakstan, is also a possibility.
 Oilmen involved in the drilling predict that ultimately a combination of routes will be used to export Kashagan's oil. First, some will be sent through the existing pipeline network to Europe via Russia. Then, the Tengiz-Novorossisk pipeline will absorb some more.
 Finally, in a few years' time, U.S. sanctions against Iran may be lifted. If they are not, the share of the two U.S. companies that are members of OKIOC (ExxonMobil and Philips Petroleum), or about 22 percent, will have to flow through non-Iranian routes, which the oilmen say does not present a problem.
 No decision on transport is likely to be made until the appraisal phase is completed, with another six or so wells drilled this year and next.
 By then, a decision on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline may already have been taken.
 Some oilmen involved in the OKIOC consortium believe there will be more buying and selling of OKIOC shares in the next two years.
 &quot;I think that by the time the appraisal is over, the big decisions will have to be taken and real money is going to have to be spent,&quot; said one oilman close to OKIOC. &quot;There will have been a consolidation of the ownership. Instead of nine partners, there will be four or five, and the biggest shareholder will naturally become the operator.&quot;

TITLE: Rosneft Sale Renews Russia's Indian Ties
AUTHOR: By David Chance
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - State-owned oil major Rosneft finalized a deal Saturday to sell a 20 percent stake in the giant Sakhalin-1 development project off the Pacific coast to India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. for about $300 million.
 In the largest merger and acquisition deal in Russia, according to the participants, the Indian group will purchase the stake from Rosneft, and its initial investment in the project is expected to be in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Production is expected to start in 2005.
 Sources familiar with the deal say state-owned ONGC will pay around $180 million up front for the stake.
 &quot;This transaction is a major step in our strategy to achieve energy security and is a first in a series of initiatives by ONGC to become a major international energy company,&quot; said Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik.
 ONGC was advised by JP Morgan and Rosneft by ABN Amro in the deal, which started last year.
 &quot;ONGC and Rosneft are both extremely commercially minded,&quot; said Jeremy Wilson, managing director and head of energy mergers and acquisitions at JP Morgan.
 &quot;However, doing a cross-border deal between India and Russia was probably the most complex deal we have done,&quot; said Wilson, who worked on deals such as British Petroleum's acquisition of Amoco and Exxon's purchase of Mobil.
 ONGC joins subsidiaries of ExxonMobil and Japan's Sodeco, which have 30 percent each as well as Rosneft with 20 percent, as shareholders.
 As part of the agreement, ONGC will invest in development, financing Rosneft's participation in the project until it generates positive cash flow.
 Oil production is expected to build to production levels of 200,000 barrels per day, while natural gas could rise to as much as 28 million cubic meters per day.
 The deal between ONGC and Rosneft marks the resumption of historical ties between Russia and India and comes as ONGC aims to increase production of energy from 30 percent of demand to 50 percent in the next 10 years.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: 'No Devaluation Ahead' 
MOSCOW (SPT) - The government does not intend to devalue the ruble below the exchange rate of 30 rubles against the dollar, Prime-Tass quoted a source in the Finance Ministry as saying Monday.
 The government's goal in 2001 is the conservation of the ruble's nominal exchange rate &quot;with the possibility of its slight devaluation,&quot; he stressed.
 Beside helping to curtail inflationary pressures, this is necessary to increase interest on government securities, which now bear the lowest possible yields, the agency quoted the source as saying.
 
IMF Compromises
 

MOSCOW (AP) - Negotiators have reached a compromise with visiting International Monetary Fund officials on sticking points including projected currency reserves, a news report said Sunday.
 The IMF, the nation's chief lender, had initially insisted that the Central Bank boost its gold and currency reserves by $14 billion in 2001, Interfax reported. Officials said the projection was unrealistic, instead forecasting an increase of $6 billion.
 A high-level IMF mission that arrived in Moscow last week reached agreement with negotiators on a $7.6 billion increase, the report said.
Land Bill on Way

MOSCOW (AP) - In what would be a step toward liberalizing land ownership in Russia, the government will send to the State Duma a bill this spring to enable private sales of all types of land, including farmland, an official said Friday. 
 Left-wing Duma deputies staged a walkout from the lower house of parliament last month, when the house gave narrow tentative approval to a bill enabling the private buying and selling of non-agricultural land. 
 Dealings in farmland, however, must wait until a special Land Code is approved. Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said Friday that the code will be sent to the Duma this spring, the NTV television network reported.
 Kazak Locusts To Stay

ALMATY, Kazakstan (Reuters) - Kazakstan, hard hit by locusts in recent years, expects a less-aggressive invasion this season, but the insects will remain a scourge for many years, scientists and officials said Friday at a conference on locusts.
 Saktash Sagitov, head of the plant protection department at Kazakstan's agriculture ministry, said that the hasty but flawed reforms and low levels of financing in the ex-Soviet state's agricultural sector had led to the collapse of collective farms and their once well-organized system of chemical protection against the insects.
 Sagitov said the fast spread of locusts beyond the country's borders might sour relations with neighbors.
 &quot;This is becoming a political issue - it is enough only to recall the angry government notes that Kazakstan received from Russia and Kyrgyzstan last year,&quot; he said.

TITLE: Online in the City: Where, When and How
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The state of the Internet market in St. Petersburg, and in Russia in general, is a classic case of &quot;good news/bad news.&quot;
 On the one hand, the number of people with access to and regularly using using the Internet is growing steadily. By the end of 2000, 4.5 million people in Russia had access to the Internet either privately or through work.
 But there's also the down side. The figure of 6.6 million is relatively small given Russia's population of over 147 million. This means that a mere 4.5 percent of Russians have Internet access, below the world average of 6.1 percent and ahead only of China on the list of the 15 countries with the most Internet users. In the United States, 49.1 percent of the population is online, while the number for Germany is 23.2 percent.
 
 <strong>THE CITYSCAPE
 </strong>Accross Russia, the biggest barrier to increased Internet usage is the basic problem that relatively few Russians own or have accesss to computers with modems.
 According to a Gallup study of 2,000 Petersburg residents over the age of 17, published in the Dec. 2000 issue of Internet magazine, only about 21 percent of respondents have a computer at home, and only half of these are equipped with modems. About 5 percent of respondents said that they visited the World Wide Web at least once a month.
 Figures from Alfa Bank say that there are presently about 300,000 people online in the city, and predict that the total will almost double by the end of 2002.
 But studies like these probably don't give an entirely accurate picture of the online situation.
 &quot;In fact, nobody knows how many people use the World Wide Web in St. Petersburg - or anywhere, for that matter,&quot; Vyacheslav Safronov, marketing director at St. Petersburg Internet service provider (ISP) Peterlink, said in an interview on Wednesday. &quot;This seems to stem from the fact that there are no clear criteria for defining what a user is.&quot;
 &quot;Our company doesn't usually announce the number of our own subscribers,&quot; Maria Drinberg, public relations manager at Web Plus said. &quot;In the process of counting, there arise some important questions, such as how to treat the sale of Internet cards.&quot;
 Internet cards provide the purchaser with a set number of hours of access, so one person might buy more than one card in a month. But sales figures would treat this as being more than one customer.
 
 <strong>WHAT'S OUT THERE?
 </strong>Whatever the case may be regarding the growth of Internet usage in the city, those wishing to get access to the Net are confronted with a variety of methods and providers from which to choose, and that choice can be a daunting one.
 People living in St. Petersburg have a choice of 46 providers, according to the list posted on www.providers.spb.ru., a site maintained by the industry in the city.
 But Safronov said that the number of providers officially registered with Gossvyaznadzor - the federal agency which regulates the telecommunications sector - is closer to 100. But only about 20 of these are actively doing business.
 The St. Petersburg market can be broken down into two basic groups, based on the size of the provider.
 The market's larger players tend to provide a more reliable service than smaller companies, based on a larger modem pool - the number of telephone lines available to make connections. Smaller providers generally don't maintian more than 20 to 40 lines, while the number of lines at Web Plus is 1,100, and at Peterlink it's 650.
 &quot;At the top of the market are five companies, which service about 70 percent of the market - Cityline, Comset, Peterlink, Russia OnLine and Web Plus.&quot; Safronov said. &quot;Peterlink and Web Plus tend to focus more on corporate clients, where a client gets a fixed, dedicated line and then connects it to the local office network.&quot; 
 &quot;This type of subscriber tends to be more stable in its choice of provider.&quot;
 &quot;Cityline is in the same category if defined by number of subscribers, but it has more private customers who use the service at home or on a computer they don't own themselves,&quot; Safronov added. &quot;This type of client changes providers often, looking for the best price and fastest connection.&quot;
 As a result, many of the companies offer different packages in an attempt to attract the largest possible number of subscirebers.
 The simplest method is by the sale of pre-paid Internet cards available from kiosks, banks and computer stores, among other locations.
 With the purchase of the pre-paid card, a subscriber doesn't need to visit the office of the provider to pay or sign any necessary documents. Each card contains a pre-printed user name and password, which are used to connect to the system through a dial-up connection.
 The cost of pre-paid cards can vary, from 24 rubles for one hour offered by Omni, one of the city's smaller providers, to 1,323 rubles for one month of unlimited connection through Sovintel, a telecommunications company.
 The average pre-paid card for 20 hours of access costs about 300 to 400 rubles. There are also cards such as the &quot;Night Internet card&quot; sold by Web Plus for 200 rubles. These allow access only at certain times of the day. It allows unlimited access between 1 a.m and 9 a.m. for one week after the user's first visit. There is a wide variety of cards of this type offered by different providers and covering different time and cost plans.
 
 <strong>SIGNING UP
 </strong>The alternative to Internet cards is to sign up for an actual package. A plan providing 25 hours a month at any time of the day costs $15 at Web Plus or Peterlink. For the same price, a client can buy 34 hours through Cityline, but half of those hours have to be used between 2.30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
 Other providers, such as Comset and Russia OnLine, don't fix the amount of time available per month, but sell packages allowing certain amounts of on-line time regardless of the particular hours taken to use it. Thirty hours of online time costs $15 at Russia OnLine, and $30 at Comset. 
 &quot;I usually pay $20 at Russia OnLine, and for that I end up using about 50 hours paid and free night time from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. for that money,&quot; said Yevgeny Arabkin, a student at St. Petersburg State University. &quot;That is the lowest price I could find in the city.&quot;
 &quot;The connection is at a good speed, but recently it has occasionally been more difficult to dial up.&quot; 
 Most providers offer a standard list of services - connection of private and corporate clients, Web design and a place on the World Wide Web for clients' Web pages - while some offer extras.
 Web Plus offers subscribers an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL). The technology uses the usual copper telephone cables, but the signal is carried on a different band and doesn't pass through the city's switching system.
 &quot;Subscribers can even get video movies and talk on the phone at the same time,&quot; Drinberg of Web Plus said. &quot;That technology could be a good variant when the city eventually decides to run a telephone time-payment system.&quot;
 &quot;The drawback is that it costs $48 per month, which is expensive for private users, though they do get 24-hour access. The client also has to sign a long-term agreement for that kind of connection.&quot;
 
 <strong>OF LINES AND STATIONS
 </strong>The question of telephone connections itelf is a problem, with dial-up problems heading the list of obstacles to Internet development in St. Petersburg.
 The quality of a user's Internet connection depends not only on the server and modem, but also on the quality of telephone lines and switching stations. Fiber-optics networks - which allow faster data transmission - have been installed in only a few of the city's districts, and then only by private companies, including Peterstar, PTT and Metrocom. 
 According to Oleg Kurennoi, the head of the systems information departmant at St. Petersburg Telephone Network (PTS), the company operates 1.9 million telephone lines in the city, but only a third of these run through more modern electronic switching stations.
 The other two-thirds of PTS' 320 switching stations are analog, and 10 percent of the city's telephone traffic is still carried through so-called &quot;step&quot; switching stations - the oldest, developed for voice transfer only. The remainder - about 60 percent - are &quot;coordinate&quot; stations, which are slightly better at carrying digital information than the step stations, but inferior to the electronic variety.
 
 <strong>NUMBERS THAT COUNT
 </strong>As a general rule, city telephone numbers running through &quot;step&quot; stations generally begin with a 200 exchange (&quot;273,&quot; for example.) Numbers whose first three digits are in the 400s tend to run through electronic stations, while 100 and 300 exchanges tend to be mixed. 
 The best way to find out what kind of connection is supported by the telephone system in a subscriber's area is to ask the provider.
 And while Internet users in St. Petersburg may be looking forward to an improvement in the phone sytem, the future also threatens to bring negative developments. As part of the restructuring program at PTS, company representatives have also proposed charging for local calls in the city. At present, phone users pay only a low monthly rate.
 &quot;This is definitely going to hike the price of Internet services,&quot; said Peterlink's Safronov. &quot;But the presence of PTT, PTS and Peterstar in the same market will probably foster competition, so the price rise might not be that great.&quot;
 &quot;In Moscow, for example, they're talking about 3 kopeks per minute, so it's not that big a deal,&quot; said Tom Adshead, telecoms analyst at Troika Dialog.
 &quot;The proposal has given rise to a rather unusal alliance. We've seen the cyberpunks teaming up with the babushkas to oppose the measure.&quot;

TITLE: Analysts Worry Over Internet Regulations
AUTHOR: By Natasha Shanetskaya
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The Internet has been one of the last frontiers unconquered by Russia's galling government regulations, but that may soon change. During its spring session, the State Duma is gearing up to consider as many as 15 bills to regulate the Internet, said a Duma official.
 &quot;We need to manage our online relationships,&quot; said Yury Travkin, a consultant to the Duma's commission on information policy, in a telephone interview. &quot;It is important for Russia to regulate its Internet if it wants to be serious about entering into the WTO [World Trade Organization].&quot; 
 While Travkin declined to list all the pending bills because committees are still massaging the drafts into shape, he said the package will most likely contain provisions banning commercial spam, or junk e-mail, protecting intellectual property, preventing copyright infringement, securing online payments and addressing the legitimacy of digital signatures.
 A bill that is likely to draw fire from defendants of free speech stipulates that all Internet publications need to register with the Communications Ministry if they want to be considered members of the mass media.
 Dmitry Itskovich, who runs the news and information site Polit.ru, said in a telephone interview that this bill had raised more fears than many online news organizations felt were justified.
 Many of the organizations had already voluntarily registered with the ministry not only in order to qualify for tax breaks available to the media, but also to be officially recognized, he said.
 &quot;I don't think online publications should be treated any differently than other media,&quot; Itskovich added.
 Other bills seem more likely to kill, rather than foster, the virtual domains deputies wish to regulate. Segodnya newspaper reported that the Duma's economic policy committee has recommended that only officially registered, self-employed business people be able to shop in Internet stores.
 From a legal perspective, the proposed regulations will assist Russian companies blazing the trails of electronic commerce, said Timofei Kotenev, an e-commerce specialist at law firm Lovells.
 &quot;This will create one legal base and give a green light to the development of online commerce on Russia,&quot; said Ko te nev, adding that since the Internet knows no national boundaries, the Duma should be sure the bills are written according to international standards.
 While he welcomes the government's involvement as long as it facilitates the growth of the Internet, Kotenev warns some regulations may go too far.
 For instance, he said, under the proposed bills, companies that want to use digital signatures for legally-binding contracts will have to register with the Federal Communications and Information Agency - a move that could lead to privacy abuses.
 Adversaries of government control over the World Wide Web can easily justify their apprehensions.
 The Federal Security Service, or FSB, already monitors e-mails and other Internet communications though a program named SORM, or System for Operational-Investigative Activities. The FSB claims the program helps catch cyber criminals, terrorists, and spies.
 SORM requires security services to obtain a warrant prior to looking at electronic transmissions, but critics argue the FSB can simply ignore the rules.
 Ignoring existing rules is precisely the problem, according to Tom Adshead, an Internet and telecom analyst at Troika Dialog.
 &quot;There are a bunch of existing laws that are totally ignored, so all they have to do is apply them to the Internet and use the legal system to enforce them.&quot;
 Adshead said the main stumbling blocks to the widespread acceptance of the Internet in Russia is not the lack of applicable laws. &quot;What's holding the growth of the Internet here is the fact that people don't have the money to buy computers, and I don't see that changing any time soon,&quot; he said.
 The number of computer users in Russia doubled last year to an estimated 3 million, which is still less than 2 percent of the population, Adshead said.
 IDC, formerly International Data Corporation, forecasts there will be a total of 9.4 million Internet users in Russia by 2004.

TITLE: Net Cafes: A Chance To Surf and Snack
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: For Russians and foreigners alike, one of the major impediments to getting online is the simple fact that they don't own computers, or own computers without modems.
 But recent years have seen considerable growth in the number of options for people who want to get online.
 If the nature of the surroundings is high on your list of priorities, then the city's Internet cafes may be the best way to go.
 &quot;The chance to sit with a snack and drink while working on a computer is good to have,&quot; Sergei Baramba, an Internet guide at the Tetris Internet Cafe, on Ul. Chernyakhovskovo. &quot;It satisfies what I like to call the combination of physiological and information needs of the individual.&quot;
 Internet cafes generally charge between 20 and 40 rubles an hour, often depending on the time of day, with peak hours being more expensive.
 One of the difficulties is that few of them are listed clearly as Internet cafes in St. Petersburg's Yellow Pages. There are only four such entries with another three for bars or nightclubs that also offer online services. Most people end up stumbling onto these places by word of mouth.
 There are also a number of bars or night clubs that offer access in the city, among them Manhattan, Mama and Planeta Internet.
 For sheer comfort and speed of Internet service, Sofit Internet cafe on Avstriyskaya Ploshchad is one of the city's better options. The atmosphere in the bar is relaxed and their Assymetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) provides for download speeds of up to 8 megabytes per second, which is fast enough to watch TV by.
 But Sofit is also one of the more expensive choices. While the price for one hour of Internet access might cost 30 rubles at a game club, or 30 rubles and the cost of entry to a night club, Sofit's smallest rate is 50 rubles and from 6 to 11 p.m. the hourly rate rises to 80 rubles.
 &quot;The higher price mostly serves to filter out schoolchildren, who are probably better off using the Internet in any of the game clubs,&quot; Manolis Sivridi, the general director of Sofit, said.
 &quot;Most business centers and hotels in the city also offer Internet services, but the prices are generally twice as high. Universities and other educational institutions also have computer centers, but they're often very crowded,&quot; he said. &quot;Our clients are people of all ages, from students to pensioners.&quot;
 &quot;It's really not a very profitable business right now,&quot; Sivridi said. &quot;It's directed mostly at foreign visitors, who have a stable demand for online services. It's a business with a good future.&quot;
 Besides coffee, beer and sandwiches, Internet cafes often also offer office-style services - such as printing and copying the documents and information from the World Wide Web. 
 &quot;Some clients actually use our cafe as their office abroad,&quot; Baramba said. &quot;I've even seen a visitor using our service to trade stocks over the net.&quot;
 For those looking for a more business-like atmosphere, the Business Communications Center is another alternative. Located in the city's Central Telephone and Telegraph office on Bolshaya Morskaya Ul., the center offers services including regular and electronic mail, fax transmission, copying and printing, along with basic Internet access.
 Internet rates run from 40 rubles in the morning to 80 rubles in the peak mid-evening period. Beside the wider range of supplementary services offered, a big draw here is that each of the 12 computer stations are separated into their own cabins, allowing the kind of privacy and quiet not available at Internet cafes or clubs.
 A cheaper option for sending e-mail is the Central Post Office on Pochtamtskaya Ul., open from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. on weekdays. For 20 rubles customers can write out a short message and have it typed out and sent by an employee there - in either Latin or Cyrillic script.
 Another access option is the myriad of gaming clubs, those like M-19, Dream, Cro-Magnon and Virus which also allow customers to connect to the Internet using their computers. For most of these places, Internet access is only a sideline used to attract extra clients.
 &quot;It isn't very profitable for the club, but some people ask for the Internet,&quot; Dmitry Dryazgov, an administrator at one of the city's more popular gaming clubs, said. &quot;We have just one of 28 computers here devoted to Internet access.&quot;
 &quot;The majority of our clients are teenagers who come here to play games,&quot; he added. &quot;Many of them aren't interested in the Internet because they don't even know what it is.&quot;
 
 Staff Writer Molly Graves contributed to this report.

TITLE: SURFING YOUR WAY AROUND TOWN
TEXT: St. Petersburg offers a number of centrally located &quot;Internet cafes&quot; (or &quot;clubs&quot;) offering various prices and services. Be aware, though, that the addition of the word &quot;cafe&quot; does not always mean food - or even a cup of coffee - will be available. Here are the names, addresses and cost at some of the options:
 
 <strong>Internet Cafes
 </strong>
 <strong>Anna Internet cafe
 </strong>3 Millionnaya Ul. Tel: 311-10-64. 48 rubles/hour. Open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., weekends 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
 
 <strong>Computer Center
 </strong>38 Beringa Ul. (next to Metro Primorskaya). Tel: 352-20-17. 24-hour Internet facilities, with a small cafe nearby. Prices vary from 20 to 39 rubles/hour, depending on time of day, and there is a special offer of 150 rubles for &quot;all-night&quot; service from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.
 
 <strong>Nordic Club
 </strong>8/7 Safovaya Ul. Tel: 269-42-22. 30 rubles/hour. Also has a special &quot;all-night&quot; rate of 120 rubles from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.
 
 <strong>Sofit Internet cafe 
 </strong>10 Ul. Mira. Tel: 232-93-60. Bar and cafe. Prices vary from 45 to 80 rub/hour, depending on time of day, additional business services include video-conferencing facilities, fax, international calls. Call to reserve a computer.
 
 <strong>Tetris internet cafe
 </strong>33 Ul. Chernyakhovskogo. Tel: 325-48-77. Prices vary from 30 to 60 rubles/hour, depending on time of day, hours Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Basic menu includes items such as pizza and Turkish coffee. Currently closed for three weeks for renovations.
 
 <strong>Internet and Game Clubs
 </strong>
 <strong>Aktiv Internet club
 </strong>5 Kazanskaya Ul., Tel: 311-97-63. 40 rubles/hour.
 
 <strong>Cro-Magnon Internet club
 </strong>81 Nevsky Prospect, Tel: 279-57-26. Basement room full of computers & caveman-style wall murals - it's generally packed with local teens playing computer games. 30 rubles/hour. 80 rubles for the &quot;all night&quot; service from midnight to 9 a.m.
 
 <strong>M-19
 </strong>19 Moskovsky Pr. Tel: 327-58-29. 30 rubles/hour. 150 rubles &quot;all-night&quot; service from midnight to 9a.m. Pool tables complete the experience.
 <strong>Virus-1
 </strong>203/207 Ligovsky Prospect. Tel: 166-65-79. A 24-hour club, charging 30 rubles/hour.
 <strong>
 Bars and Clubs
 </strong>
 <strong>Planeta Interneta</strong>
 3 Ul. Chapayeva. (at Metro Gorkovskaya). Tel: 238-74-06. The official club of Internet provider Peterlink, featuring two bars, video, and Internet cafe. Open daily from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Fri.-Sat. to 5 a.m. Occasional live concerts at 9:30 p.m. on weekends. Admission costs 50 rubles when there is a band. Internet service costs 50 rubles/hour.
 
 <strong>Manhattan 
 </strong>90 Nab. Fontanki. Tel: 113-19-45. Art club with Internet cafe section, Internet service 30 rubles/hour with discounts for longer usage.
 Open daily from 2 p.m. to 5 a.m. Entry to the bar during shows costs 60-100 rubles.
 
 <strong>Mama
 </strong>3B Malaya Monetnaya Ul. (Metro Gor kov skaya). Tel: 232-31-37. Really a techno club with its own Internet lounge. Internet access costs 30 rubles/hour. Fri.- Sat. 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Entrance to club, 100 rubles.

TITLE: Is Governor's Neck the Price of a Larger Grant?
TEXT: ST. Petersburg took its most ambitious project for many a year to Moscow last week, presenting the plans for the city's 300th anniversary in the hope of obtaining money from the government for things like new hotels and residential buildings, as well as such hopeless mammoth projects like the Ring Road.
 A host of what you might collectively term &quot;social projects&quot; - building or repairing hospitals, schools and prisons - are also mentioned in the plans for 2003, projects that in total would require sums many times the size of the average St. Petersburg budget. So Gov. Vla di mir Yakovlev and co. had their caps firmly in their hands while they were in the capital.
 The first installments of the state's largesse are already on their way north: The city will receive at least 300 million rubles from the budget this year, a grant resulting from a meeting of the state commission for the anniversary that took place early last week, and which was chaired by none other than President Vladimir Putin himself.
 With Putin at the head of the commision, and a number of other St. Petersburg natives in various positions in the federal government, hopes are high that the cash will keep on coming and plans for the anniversary will pan out.
 But there's a hitch. Some of the former inhabitants of Smolny who have made the move to the Kremlin are willing to support their home town, but less willing to put large amounts of money into the hands of its current governor. And the conflicting figures being bandied about are indicative of this.
 Viktor Cherkesov, governor general of the Northwest region, said last week that the state was ready to hand out between 30 billion and 40 billion rubles over the next three years. Since this is federal money, he implied, it is federal structures who will control where, and on what, it goes.
 Yakovlev, meanwhile, said that the government was, in fact, going to be far less generous than Cherkesov had stated, and that he would have his hands on the purse strings. So whatever the amount turns out to be, it is already clear that there are two parties fighting for control over it.
 According to one of the &quot;St. Petersburg crowd&quot; in the Kremlin, with whom I was speaking shortly after the exhibition to present the anniversary's plans had opened, the northern capital will get the larger sum, if Yakovlev resigns. An ally of his in the St. Petersburg administration backed up this remark when he told me that the political factor is &quot;extremely important&quot; in deciding the financial question.
 In other words, the price of Yakovlev quitting has been set. It's around 40 billion rubles.
 Surprisingly, nothing was said at the Moscow exhibition about the flood of investment that is supposed to follow federal grants to St. Petersburg. (&quot;Sponsors will wake up to the celebrations about 18 months before they start,&quot; said one member of the commission.)
 One presumes that they first want to know who they'll be dealing with.
 
 Anna Shcherbakova is the St. Petersburg bureau chief for Vedomosti newspaper.

TITLE: Confusing Law Is Still Enforced
AUTHOR: By Tom Stansmore
TEXT: RUSSIA'S law on sales tax has been the source of ongoing controversy since it came into effect in 1998. Despite the fact that it is confusing and ambiguous and was recently declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, the same Constitutional Court went on to rule that, for the time being at least, we're stuck with it.
 The provisions establishing Russia's sales tax took the form of amendments to the law &quot;On the Basic Principles of the Russian Tax System.&quot; Although Part I of the Tax Code, for the most part, over-rode the basic principles, the provisions establishing the sales tax, unfortunately, survived.
 Those provisions allow the tax to be implemented by the regions, but specify that if they choose to implement a sales tax, the revenue is to be shared between the regional and local budgets based on a 40-60 ratio, respectively. Those responsible for collecting and paying the tax to the budget include: Russian legal entities, foreign legal entities, international organizations, etc. Additionally, the provisions state that the object of taxation will be the value of the goods or services being sold for cash either retail or wholesale.
 Prior to its nullification, Article 6 of the basic principles stated that a single tax base could be subject to the same tax only once. Unfortunately, this provision was not reflected in Part I of the Tax Code when it eclipsed the basic principals. Part I of the Tax Code states that the fundamental elements of taxation, including the object of taxation and the tax base, should be defined. The Constitutional Court's recent ruling held that the provisions establishing the taxable base in the sales tax law fail to meet this requirement of the code. 
 The recent ruling of the Constitutional Court was unusual in that, although it acknowledged the unconstitutionality of some of the provisions providing for sales tax, it stated that the law can remain in effect until Jan. 1, 2002, at which time it will lose force if it has not been amended and brought in line with the Constitution.
 In other words, a law, provisions of which have been deemed to be in violation of the constitution, will continue to be enforced. As Article 79 of the Federal Law on the Constitutional Court states that in the event legislation is found to be unconstitutional the law loses force immediately, I think that we have not heard the last of this issue.
 
 Tom Stansmore is head of the St. Petersburg office of Deloitte and Touche CIS.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Hi-Tech Buy

LONDON (Reuters) - Schlumberger Ltd. said on Monday it had agreed to buy Sema Plc for $5.2 billion in cash, hoping the absorption of the troubled Anglo-French IT company will boost its technology credentials.
 The New York-based oil field services to smart card group will pay 560 pence ($9.40) a share for Sema - two-fifths more than the stock was worth 10 days ago before news of talks emerged, but still a snip compared with Sema's peak at over 18 pounds ($29.70) last year.
 Sema has fallen from high-tech golden child of the London and Paris stock markets a year ago to its present place, after two profit warnings in just three months, the first showing a costly acquisition was proving hard to digest.
 

U.S. Spending Up


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers likely spent their way through the winter doldrums in January, giving the flagging economy a welcome boost, but a rebound in retail sales may be a fluke after a dismal holiday season, economists say.
 After pinching pennies in the fourth quarter of 2000, consumers snapped up automobiles at the fastest pace in four months in January and helped retail chain stores rack up their best month of sales since May 2000.
 But January's strength could be misleading, with much of the month's spending representing pent-up demand by consumers kept house bound by a bitterly cold winter.
 

IBM Sued


WASHINGTON (AP) - A lawsuit alleges U.S. computer giant IBM took part in &quot;crimes against humanity&quot; by allowing its machines to be used in Nazi death camps.
 The suit seeks to force IBM to open its archives and pay &quot;any ill-gotten gains ... from it's conduct during World War II,&quot; roughly estimated at $10 million in 1940s money, said Michael Hausfeld, lead lawyer in the case.
 The suit follows dozens filed in recent years against various entities to get compensation for survivors, including those who lost bank accounts, were used as slave labor, or had insurance policies that were never honored. Hausfeld told reporters the IBM suit is another step in the process, but that any money awarded would go to things like Holocaust education and not to plaintiffs.
 

EU Reprimands Ireland
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - European Union finance ministers, seeking to demonstrate resolve about supporting the euro, took the unprecedented step Monday of reprimanding a member for adopting a budget that could fuel inflation.
 But Ireland, which got the dressing down, rejected the criticism. It argued that its booming economy has peaked and is likely to be knocked down more by the sharp U.S. slowdown this year.
 

Oil Cut Questioned
 

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - There will be no need for OPEC to cut output when it meets March 16 if the current oil market conditions persist, Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, said Sunday.
 &quot;If [wholesale] prices stay at the levels they were last Friday, there'll be no need to cut,&quot; Al-Attiyah said.
 In mid-January, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut output by 1.5 million barrels a day starting Feb. 1, in a move aimed at lifting oil prices.

TITLE: Emulex Stock Plunges Again
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: NEW YORK - Shares of high-speed data-storage network equipment maker Emulex Corp. fell more than 48 percent on Monday, and unlike the August hoax that trimmed $2.5 billion from the company's stock market value, this time the bad news behind the fall was real.
 Late Friday afternoon, Costa Mesa, California-based Emulex said some customers were deferring orders and, should those deferrals continue, it would not meet Wall Street's revenue and earnings forecasts for its fiscal third quarter.
 In late-morning trading, Emulex stock fell $37 1/2 to $40 on NASDAQ.
 The sell-off comes about six months after a false press release issued by a college student warned of an Emulex profit shortfall, halving the company's stock price before the hoax was discovered and the shares regained most of their value.
 Mark Jakob, 23, pleaded guilty in December to manipulating Emulex's stock and faces a sentence of up to four years in jail and $110 million in fines.

TITLE: All Talk, No Energy
AUTHOR: By Gianguido Piani
TEXT: THE recent major problems in the Russian power sector raise once again the question to what extent market opening could help solve them.
 In a number of Western countries, electricity market liberalization has often been a solution for a non-problem; in Russia it would mostly be a non-solution for a much-too-real problem. The main goal of market liberalization - the reduction of the price of electricity - can hardly be achieved in Russia, where prices already barely cover generation costs and leave no room for badly needed capital investments.
 The national electricity holding Unified Energy Systems believes that only a major internal restructuring and a competitive electricity market can solve the present problems. However, the proposed restructuring plan is based mostly on ideology (leaving all solutions to &quot;market mechanisms&quot;), lacks objective data and envisions steps that are too vague to actually be implemented.
 And it is not short: At 9,300 words, it is much longer than the much more precise European Union 1996 directive on power market liberalization (e.g. German version: 5,980 words). The only explicit provision in the UES document - mimicking Western reforms - is the unbundling of power generation, transmission and distribution. All other major issues, from an independent control authority to the new rules for market participation, are mostly left unresolved.
 Even the proposal for building the market is very peculiar: UES would be responsible for creating all market participants (!) as well as the &quot;collective control organs&quot; that would take the place of a sector authority. In the capitalist world, it would be unthinkable to let regulated companies openly participate in their control institution.
 The UES plan is full of vague expressions. Does &quot;market mechanisms should be introduced to solve the problem of network limitations&quot; mean that new power lines must be built? If so, the associated new capital investments will hardly press down the price for electricity. And what about the &quot;formation of means to address the social protection of those users who are unable to pay, without distorting market signals?&quot; Should the least affluent citizens feel secure, or will their electricity supply be cut off?
 By comparison, existing Russian legislation on the power sector is much clearer, and defines a better balance of interests between the utilities, customers and the state. Contradictions litter the reform plan from beginning to end. All &quot;cross-subsidies&quot; must be cut, it maintains - but then it proposes changes in state fiscal policy to attract more investments (tax-rebate levels, grace periods and the point of view of the Finance Ministry are left unmentioned). Other key issues remain in the dark, hidden behind expressions like &quot;formation of conditions,&quot; &quot;policy implementation&quot; and &quot;barrier reduction&quot; that are never followed by any actual figures or analyses of possible difficulties and alternative solutions.
 The plan makes clear that its success depends on the possibility of receiving full cash payments for all delivered energy. If this happened today, the utilities would already be much better off financially and much less in need of any radical reform.
 In fact, the UES reform plan is preposterous. If UES really wanted a competitive power market in Russia, it could introduce one without waiting for the reform to be approved. Current Russian legislation does not foresee exclusivity rights for UES and its subsidiary companies to build power plants and sell electrical energy, i.e. anybody else can also do it. (The opposite was the case in Western countries before liberalization, which required crucial legislation to be changed first.)
 A bulk energy market (FOREM) was introduced by a 1996 presidential decree, with UES empowered to manage it. Instead of developing it into a full open market, UES has made FOREM merely a clearing mechanism for power transactions carried out according to a generation schedule determined by UES itself.
 How credible is it then for UES to carry out any further market opening? UES could accomplish almost all of the goals stated in its own reform plan just by following existing legislation. It could start a real bulk power market by selling its stakes in its regional subsidiaries and opening up access to FOREM to third parties. In this case, however, &quot;market mechanisms&quot; would no longer be under UES control.
 The long debate about the UES plan fulfills an entirely different purpose, shifting the solution of contingent problems from the hard realities of engineering and financing to the more nebulous realm of organizational management. Consultants - especially foreign ones - thrive on such situations. But praising the virtues of liberalized power markets neither extends the usable lifetime of Chernobyl-type nuclear reactors nor improves the environmental impact of power generation, nor increases the reliability of electricity distribution in Russia nor helps warm those currently freezing in Siberia and the Far East.
 All these problems have very little to do with the UES organizational structure and no change in the latter would solve them. The best and most realistic option for the power sector would be to end the discussion about UES reform altogether and instead to focus directly on the issues to be solved. These can be approached more than adequately by normal methods of engineering and finance.
 Capital investments, for example, could be raised with project-specific financing, as was the case with the Northwest power plant in St. Petersburg. Only by showing sound fundamental economic management skills will Russian utilities be able to improve their credibility and rating, increasing their chances of attracting equity investments. The protracted discussion of the UES reconstruction plan is just a useless and expensive waste of time.
 
 Gianguido Piani works in the energy sector in St. Petersburg. He contributed this article to The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: The New Cold War Warms Up
AUTHOR: By Pavel Felgenhauer
TEXT: A FORTNIGHT ago, Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov surprised an international security conference in Munich, Germany, with an uncompromising speech denouncing Western plans to further expand NATO, as well as the American intention to deploy a national missile defense.
 Many in the West believe that the present Kremlin positions on NATO expansion and NMD are just public poses for domestic consumption to keep anti-Western forces happy while the new &quot;pro-liberal&quot; President Vla di mir Putin implements much-needed military reforms. 
 Further NATO expansion is virtually inevitable and the United States will almost certainly proceed with NMD no matter what Moscow says. So the Kremlin should begin accepting the inevitable, say Western diplomats. The Munich conference would have been a good place to start.
 Conference attendees also hoped that Ivanov - who appears to be Putin's main national security adviser - is influential enough to speak reasonably on serious matters.
 Instead he repeated that the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty remains a cornerstone of international security and that it forbids the deployment of any NMD. Ivanov added that any breach of the ABM treaty would begin a new arms race, including an arms race in space.
 Ivanov's remarks imply that today's Russia is capable of competing with the mighty United States both on earth and in space, a scenario that seems highly questionable considering that Moscow does not have enough money to buy even a few night-capable attack helicopters for its troops in Chechnya. The new U.S. defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, told reporters in Munich that Russia should not fear NMD since it is designed to intercept only a handful of incoming &quot;rogue&quot; missiles. Rumsfeld said the Kremlin is &quot;off the mark&quot; in calling NMD a threat to arms control. &quot;That's cold-war thinking,&quot; said Rumsfeld.
 Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev responded promptly, telling reporters Monday that in response to NMD and NATO expansion Moscow will abandon most other arms control agreements and will deploy &quot;asymmetrical&quot; countermeasures that were designed in the 1980s to counter Ronald Reagan's &quot;Star Wars&quot; initiative.
 In fact, the latest Russian intercontinental ballistic missile, the Topol-M SS-27, was specifically designed to penetrate ABM defenses. 
 Sergeyev has been criticized for spending virtually all the Defense Ministry's procurement money in 1997-99 - depriving the army of any new weapons - to deploy the SS-27 that has, among many other features, the capability to carry many decoy warheads to baffle enemy radar and interceptors.
 A number of decoy warheads were developed and tested in space during the Soviet period. Russian &quot;asymmetrical measures&quot; are already in place. The only problem is that up to now the United States does not have any missile defense at all, while Russia is already deploying the SS-27.
 For the Russian military and for Sergeyev, NATO expansion and National Missile Defense are a vindication for squandering the country's last resources on new ICBMs aimed at the United States a full decade after Russia lost the Cold War. 
 NMD and NATO expansion will also provide the military and defense industry chiefs with a pretext to whip up xenophobia and to make a clamor for more money. 
 But why does Putin support these suicidal policies - virtually the same policies that brought the powerful Soviet Union to collapse in the 1980s?
 In 2000, Putin united Russia and won a landslide victory at the polls by giving the people a clear enemy - the Chechen separatists, supported by an international Muslim extremist cabal. Now that the war in the Caucasus has been officially proclaimed to have ended in victory, so a new enemy is being put forward in order to mobilize the nation.
 Of course, the Kremlin apparently hopes it can manage the level of confrontation with the West, so that Russians feel threatened and work harder but Western investments continue to flow in. 
 But will the gamble work?
 In Chechnya, the Kremlin originally planned a limited engagement, but a full-scale war that Russia cannot win ensued. 
 Today the same military chiefs hope to replay the Cold War again and to &quot;restore&quot; the Russian military to its Soviet glory in the process.
 
 Pavel Felgenhauer is an independent, Moscow-based defense analyst.

TITLE: Sham Reforms Leading To National Bolshevism
AUTHOR: By Grigory Yavlinsky
TEXT: MORE and more people are beginning to understand, albeit very slowly, what is happening in our country. 
 People are beginning to understand that we have sham freedom of speech, which really only allows us to systematically praise the bosses.
 People see that we have sham independence of the judicial system, which continues to heed the commands of its superiors. This system can be used as a truncheon whenever it is needed. It is always ready to open a criminal case and start to hound someone.
 We have sham elections: Everyone is well aware that people are able to elect not those who they want, but those who the government puts forward. This happens on all levels.
 The country has a sham multiparty system: The party of power has certain privileges. This &quot;party&quot; is now trying to become a monopoly, having in essence joined forces with the Communists.
 We have sham separation of powers because our government is not subordinate to anyone. The executive branch does whatever it feels like - it is accountable to no one, not on a single issue.
 The most characteristic trait of today's government, which it unabashedly demonstrates, is the absence of any notion of the value of human life, any idea that there are inalienable rights and freedoms. It is senseless to try to explain this to the authorities: They don't allow these simple ideas into their consciousness. This is how it's been for almost 10 years.
 And what is the result? 
 In 10 years, our country has suffered through two wars, one of which is continuing. Two defaults, one of them immense. Hyperinflation in 1992, which destroyed all the material resources of our fellow citizens. In 1993, we saw the beginnings of a civil war.
 Today our country has ceased to count its dead. We no longer pay attention to the number of people who are killed every day in conflict zones and for many other reasons that cannot be explained from the point of view of logic, law or the Constitution. A country that does not count its dead is moving on a very dangerous road - it becomes indifferent. And that is just what those who would take political advantage of the country need.
 The foundations of a new political system are being laid. Today, I would call it an as-yet unrecognizable National Bolshevism. One of the reasons for it is the attempt to create a capitalist system without civil society.
 Only reforms that guarantee real rights to everybody - only reforms that reach each individual and improve his life - can guarantee our country's strength and prosperity.
 
 Grigory Yavlinsky is the leader of the Yabloko party. The above text was taken from his speech to the All-Russia Emergency Congress in Defense of Human Rights on Jan. 21.

TITLE: The Struggle for Media-MOST: If Only It Was Just a Case of Commerce
AUTHOR: By Christopher Renaud
TEXT: FIRST, let me write that I welcome Peter Ekman's addition to the debate surrounding Media-MOST and NTV in his comment entitled &quot;Mismanaging NTV&quot; published in The St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 9. And let me state right at the beginning that I wish that Mr. Ekman's premise - that the debate surrounding Media-MOST has nothing to do with politics and is a purely commercial issue - was actually true.
 But having lived day to day through this situation as an expatriate who grew up in a country where the rule of law was consistent, fair and respected, and in a country where capitalism functioned more or less normally, I must respectfully disagree.
 I wish it were true that commercial issues were being resolved when I showed up to the office in May before an investor meeting, and was greeted by a man wearing a black mask with an AK-47 pointed at my stomach checking my identification.
 I wish commercial interests were only at stake when I was in the middle of an investor road show in June for the purpose of raising money to pay off our Credit Suisse First Boston debt when the chairman of our company, Vladimir Gusinsky, was arrested on trumped up charges.
 I wish it were only commercial interests at stake when Press Minister Mikhail Lesin and Gazprom-Media, working out of the &quot;goodness of their heart&quot; and for &quot;shareholder rights,&quot; told my boss he could spend the next decade in prison unless he signed an agreement to sell our company to Gazprom for the paltry sum of $300 million and assumption of $473 million in debt.
 Sadly, I believe Mr. Ekman has ignored these issues, and a number of other important facts, in reiterating the line that the government and Gazprom-Media have been parroting for months - that our problems are all our own making.
 Before rebutting the rest of Mr. Ekman's other arguments, however, I think it is best to first correct a number of serious factual errors in his comment.
 First, the vast majority of our debts were incurred before the Russian financial crisis, in order to have funds to invest in expanding our business and creating the largest media group in Russia. We invested in our businesses through the crisis, and have established the leading media group in Russia that - under normal circumstances - would be able to find equity funds to pay off our debt that comes due this year.
 Second, we have approximately $300 million of debt that comes due this year, and the rest of our debt comes due from 2003 to 2009, so we are not facing a massive near-term liquidity crisis if we are able to conclude the transaction with the investment consortium, led by Ted Turner, in the near term.
 Third, the investment consortium is interested in buying stakes not just in NTV, but also in NTV+, TNT, our publishing house, our ad broker and some of our other smaller assets as well, not $300 million for a blocking stake in only NTV. Mr. Ekman should not be surprised that Mr. Turner and the other consortium members are not rushing to disclose their negotiations with us and Gazprom to the press in these sensitive times.
 Fourth, we did not back out of the deal to auction our shares via Deutsche Bank just &quot;on a whim&quot; in order to keep our voting rights. Our Settlement Agreement of Nov. 17 with Gazprom-Media stated that the auction agreement for our shares had to be consistent with the settlement agreement to be valid.
 In a number of important respects, including voting rights, the auction agreement signed by Gazprom-Media and Nicholas Jordan of Deutsche Bank were at odds (not just in my opinion, but the opinion of our American and English law firms). We have gone to court in order to prove this in London and Gibraltar (the governing law for the auction agreement is English), and we have already won a preliminary injuction.
 Having cleared these things up (and Mr. Ekman is free to call me or our press department at any time in the future before writing articles that contain many factual inaccuracies) I will turn to what we believe are the main issues.
 Yes, we do have a significant amount of debt. Yes, this debt was largely incurred before the crisis that devastated the financial performance of the Media-MOST Group, and yes we still must pay off these debts. But we used this money in order to create a business that has significant value in the absence of the political risks that Media-MOST faces.
 We did not forget that we had loans coming due in late 2000 and mid-2001. We have worked hard to find foreign equity investment in order to pay these loans when they came due. Having been intimately involved in these negotiations, I regretfully must state that the universal answer that I heard from every foreign investor was not that they did not like our business and its prospects, but the fact that we faced significant political risk because of our news coverage and the unpopularity of Mr. Gusinsky with the Kremlin.
 It is not unusual or unheard of for high-growth startup businesses to raise leverage in order to grow their business, so that they can reduce their cost of capital and refinance the debt with new debt or equity after the business has grown and is more valuable. What is unusual are the circumstances that we have faced since the ascension of Putin and his administration to the heights of power in Russia.
 Despite this risk, a credible offer to pay off our debts remains on the table and could be completed in a matter of weeks. Paying off our debt this year places the company in a strong position to grow over the next 2 1/2 years and repay its long-term debts. How Mr. Ekman, sitting in his office and never having spoken to the investment consortium members, is in a position to comment on this issue is beyond my understanding.
 We will leave it to the readers of The St. Petersburg Times to form their own judgment on the following issues: Did we forget about our debts and not try to refinance them, or is the largest media company in Russia worthless and unable to refinance its debts by selling equity (rather than cash flow) because it is in a growth phase and therefore still generating losses (although we will be EBITDA positive on a group level this year)?
 Or is it that our efforts in this regard have been nearly impossible owing to the concerted and sustained political pressure which has scared away almost all of our investors who do not trust the Russian government in its treatment of Media-MOST?
 I, like the expats referred to in Mr. Ekman's letter, am afraid that the investors' fears are well founded, and the risk we face is not just for a group of managers and journalists, but Russian civil democracy as well.
 
 Christopher Renaud is Media-MOST's Director of Finance and Strategic Development, and was formerly a director and the Global Head of Media Research at Credit Suisse First Boston. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times.

TITLE: Set Rivalries Aside, for Piter's Sake
TEXT: GOV. Vladimir Yakovlev was in Moscow last week for the presentation of St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary celebrations, which will begin in less than two years' time.
 While 2003 represents the best opportunity the city will have for a long time to raise its profile, attract more tourists and clean up its act in general, St. Petersburg does not have a glorious record when it comes to this sort of &quot;big event.&quot; 
 The furious last-minute road repairs for the 2000 World Ice Hockey Championship, for example, elicited a mixture of contempt and disbelief - but at least the tournament they preceded was more of a success than the organizational disaster that was the 1994 Goodwill Games.
 Both those latter events were marred by financial problems, marketing ineptitude and a lack of planning. Both were characterized by city administrations papering over the cracks rather than undertaking any serious changes that might have improved the lives of those who live here, instead of those passing through.
 &quot;The best way to give the money [spent on the anniversary] back to the people is by means of culture,&quot; according to State Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky. Wrong - and it was this aspect of the roadshow that was depressingly predictable. As the economy of this city of around 5 million people still fails to flourish, local officials never get tired of pointing to the 220-odd museums and countless palaces as proof of St. Petersburg's importance to Russia, or its past glories as the imperial capital and the base of the country's maritime power.
 All this is important - but not as a moral panacea along the lines of, &quot;We may have a budget one-tenth of the size of Moscow city's, but at least we've got the Mariinsky.&quot; To attract tourist dollars - to attract any dollars - St. Petersburg needs major investments into its infrastructure, and a whole lot less red tape.
 But will the state be giving out 40 billion rubles, as Viktor Cherkesov has said, or the much smaller sums mentioned by Yakovlev? Will the Foreign Ministry allow Yakovlev to follow up on his idea of reducing visa costs for short-term visitors from Scandanavia, or will it splutter into its coffee and perish the thought? Will the Kremlin recognize the fact that the benefits of a Ring Road will spread to the rest of the country, or will it come up with the laughably inadequate piggy-bank sums which it has offered to date?
 In 2003, St. Petersburg has to get it right, and Moscow has to help. Rivalries have to be set aside, or we'll have to wait until 2103 for the next golden opportunity.

TITLE: The Manifold Vices of Our Bureaucracy
TEXT: I NOTICED a fantastic quotation from a &quot;source in a major oil company&quot; in a recent issue of Vedomosti. &quot;[Former Energy Minister Alexander] Gavrin turned his ministry into a real bazaar. He lost control of all matters related to production-sharing agreements and the distribution of export quotas. He was not a professional and had no idea how to properly run a ministry, which means that he didn't know how to impress his superiors. Now it is even possible that the whole ministry will disappear from the face of the earth.&quot;
 It seems to me that this quotation has it all - the vices of bureaucracy, the principles of interaction between business and bureaucrats and a complete mish-mash of views.
 What exactly does this &quot;source in a major oil company&quot; consider to be the essence of Gavrin's bureaucratic unprofessionalism? The fact that he was not able to hold on to his functions. Why is this so important? Because the utility or lack of utility of any bureaucrat is determined not by the effectiveness of his actions but by how many functions he is able to take over. The more functions a bureaucrat controls, the more important he is in the eyes of related organizations, both state and private. The greater his boss' dependence on him and the greater his market value. On the other hand, if a bureaucrat is unable or unwilling to collect functions, he loses.
 When a bureaucrat loses his functions, he ceases to be a desirable target for investment from business and, naturally, loses its support. When this happens, he inevitably becomes a candidate for dismissal. This is a clear demonstration of the intermingling of business and government.
 And here is another vice of bureaucracy. Bureaucrats do not interfere in the market simply in order to increase their status, but also to gain political advantage in the internal struggle with other bureaucrats. And the result is that bureaucrats have no rational motives at all for working in the interests of society. 
 And finally, this &quot;source in a major oil company&quot; complains that the Energy Ministry might disappear altogether. One might expect that such a development would thrill him. After all, at present the ministry is nothing more than an additional management structures over the oil, gas and coal industries. 
 Clearly the existence of one more management structure is nothing but a burden for private companies in the energy sector. The management and transactional costs of energy companies are increased and their profits are correspondingly reduced.
 So why is the &quot;source&quot; upset? For two possible reasons. Either his additional management costs are compensated by the preferences that his company receives by avoiding market mechanisms (that is, the total cost of the bribes he pays is less than the profits generated by the privileges he receives and which, naturally, are denied to his competitors).
 Or, if it turns out that this &quot;source in a major oil company&quot; is pure as the driven snow, that must mean that he doesn't belong in business at all. He doesn't understand the desirability of limited (both in terms of size and function) government. Most likely, he is just another Soviet-era bureaucrat who managed to capitalize on his official post and get a better-paid job in an oil company. He left his heart, though, back in the bureaucracy.
 
 Yevgenia Albats is an independent, Moscow-based journalist.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Quake Toll Assessed


BHUJ, India (AP) - As the shock of India's Jan. 26 quake begins to fade, the people of Bhuj have started to count the costs.
 There, more than 15,700 bodies have been collected, the government said Sunday. More than 18,000 people are confirmed dead from the 7.7-magnitude quake on Jan. 26, though unofficial estimates put the death toll at around 30,000.
 Fresh tremors shook parts of Gujarat state early Sunday, but there were no reported injuries.
 The government said 250,000 people still needed shelter.
 In Anjar and the other worst-hit towns, Bhachau and Bhuj, administrators were still waiting for word from the state government whether or not the towns will be rebuilt - or if homes will be built in new sites.
 

Philippine Elections


MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Political parties prepared their Senate slates Monday for May elections seen as a referendum on the &quot;people power&quot; revolt that ousted President Joseph Estrada.
 Estrada was toppled Jan. 20 in a popular uprising over corruption allegations. His vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, took over to finish his term, which ends in 2004.
 &quot;This will now be an election between those who supported Estrada and those who went against him,&quot; said Congressman Ernesto Herrera, among those on Macapagal-Arroyo's Senate slate. &quot;It's a fight between those who would like to be identified with a government ran by gangs and those who adhere to the law.&quot;
 More than 3,600 local and congressional positions, including 13 of 24 Senate seats and the entire 208-member House of Representatives, will be contested May 14.
 
Algerian Death Raid

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Armed assailants opened fire on a shanty town in northern Algeria, killing at least 27 people, half of whom were children, security sources said Sunday.
 The raid took place near Berrouaghia, about 80 kilometers south of the coastal capital of Algiers, on Saturday evening, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
 A night watchman at a nearby factory heard gunfire and sounded an alarm that drew government security forces. The attackers fled into a forested area after setting fire to three of the dead.
 Thirteen children between six months and 18 years old were among the 27 bodies found near the scene, a hospital official said.
 

Croatia Blockades

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) - Buoyed by a weekend rally that attracted 100,000 people, war veterans on Monday briefly blockaded roads in central Croatia to protest the government's investigation into war crimes.
 The attempts of the pro-democracy government, which took power a year ago, to shed light on atrocities during the 1991 war has infuriated nationalists.
 On Monday, they blockaded roads in the central region of Lika, some 110 kilometers southwest of the capital, Zagreb, demanding early elections and an end to war crimes probes and to cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal. Blockades were lifted after a few hours, and protesters said they expected the government to respond to their demands by Thursday.
 

Sub Sinks Trawler 


HONOLULU, Hawaii (Reuters) - Anguished relatives of the nine Japanese missing after a surfacing U.S. submarine sank their trawler off Hawaii asked U.S. officials Sunday to raise the wreck which could now be the tomb of their loved ones.
 Coast Guard Captain Steven Newell told reporters the request was made during a meeting between Coast Guard and Navy representatives and a group of about 30 relatives and others connected with the doomed ship.
 &quot;The request has been made of the U.S. government. We are aware of that request and it is in process,&quot; Newell said. The relatives and officials of the fisheries training school that organized the ship's voyage arrived in Honolulu earlier on Sunday, three days after the nuclear-powered submarine USS Greeneville surfaced directly underneath the 499-ton Ehime Maru.

TITLE: American Buys Trip In Space for $20 M
AUTHOR: By Peter Baker
PUBLISHER: The Washington Post
TEXT: MOSCOW - Dennis Tito is the first to admit he's no test pilot. At 60, slight and balding, he hardly resembles the cowboys of Tom Wolfe fame who rocketed into orbit during the great space race between Cold War superpowers. He's spent a lifetime flying a desk as an investment fund manager. 
 But for the Russians, desperate to salvage a once proud and now under-funded space program, Dennis Tito does indeed have the right stuff: a check for $20 million. 
 And so, if all goes according to a contract signed here last week by the government, the lifelong stargazer from Los Angeles will pay that amount to climb into a pressurized suit, strap himself into a Soyuz capsule and hurtle 400 kilometers above Earth to the new International Space Station, becoming the first space tourist. 
 &quot;It's an experience that maybe only 400 humans have experienced, and it's the ultimate of all adventures,&quot; Tito said in an interview here, where he is training alongside the cosmonauts who will accompany him this April. &quot;There's a spiritual aspect of it, to be off the planet and looking back at the Earth. I joke that I've been on this Earth for 60 years; it's about time I get off and look at where I've lived all these years.&quot; 
 Many civilians have journeyed to the final frontier - politicians, scientists, a teacher, a journalist - but never has someone paid out of his own pocket simply for the thrill. That this buttoned-down millionaire may be about to realize his celestial dream is testament to the determination of one man and the ultimate example of the anything-for-a-price capitalism that has developed in Russia over the past decade. 
 In a country whose economy has shrunk by half since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, even the revered program that beat the Americans into space has fallen on such hard times that it is eager to sell its services to the highest bidder. 
 &quot;Americans don't need the money, so if you go and offer NASA $20 million, that's a drop in the ocean,&quot; said Tito. &quot;But that's a lot of money for the Russian space program.&quot; Indeed, it's nearly one-seventh of this year's $145 million budget. 
 Whether it likes it or not, NASA finds itself involved in Tito's quest, if not his largess. Tito's original deal with the Russians was for a trip to their own long-serving space station, Mir. But that broken-down jalopy of space vehicles is now scheduled to be taken out of orbit and sent crashing into the sea next month. So the Russians suggested an alternative: Send Tito on an April 30 launch to the International Space Station being built jointly with the United States and about a dozen other countries. 
 The professionals at Johnson Space Center in Houston might cringe at seeing their orbital platform turned into a vacation getaway (seats on Soyuz capsules should be reserved for trained astronauts, not rich &quot;spectators,&quot; NASA Admi ni strator Daniel S. Goldin groused several months ago). But they may go along, grudgingly. 
 &quot;We don't have any fundamental objection to flying a commercial civilian on a Soyuz taxi flight,&quot; said NASA spokeswoman Debra Rahn. But meetings are scheduled this month to hear more from the Russians about specific plans, she said. 
 Former astronaut Norm Thagard compared such apprehension to what early aviators must have felt about the advent of commercial airlines. 
 &quot;The only thing that would bother me about that is if they were using a space [on the Soyuz capsule] that was already committed or should have been committed as part of their responsibility to the International Space Station,&quot; said Thagard, the first American to visit Mir. &quot;If it isn't - and that seat often doesn't go occupied - then I don't particularly have a problem with it.&quot; 
 For the Russian space program, pride hasn't stood in the way of creative financing. NASA propped up the program by paying $400 million to send astronauts, such as Thagard, to Mir, and the Russians have leased seats to Germany, Japan and other countries. For about $12 million, the Russians took a Japanese television reporter to Mir. For $1 million, they had their cosmonauts unfurl a large nylon-and-aluminum &quot;soda can&quot; emblazoned with the Pepsi logo outside the station. 
 Russian officials don't even try to disguise their interest in Tito. &quot;For us, it's an opportunity to make money,&quot; space agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said flatly. As for NASA, &quot;they weren't very comfortable about this. [But] it's also profitable for the American side because Russia will have the money to accomplish our part of the [space station] project faster.&quot; 
 Tito owes his fascination with space to the Russians in the first place, thanks to the Sputnik launch when he was 17. Eventually, he was an aerospace engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but it became clear his career was earthbound. 
 &quot;At that time, you had this image of astronauts, of big fighter pilots in Korea shooting down MiGs,&quot; he recalled. &quot;There was really no way I could see myself competing among that group.&quot; 
 In the world of high finance, however, he shot straight to the stars. He left JPL and started an investment firm, made his first million before he was 40 and developed the Wilshire 5,000, a well-known stock index. His firm, Wilshire Associates, is among the nation's largest independent investment management companies, handling about $500 billion in assets. Tito is worth an estimated $200 million and lives in a 2,700-square-meter house on 3 1/2 hectares overlooking Los Angeles, complete with pool, guest house, running track and eight-car garage. 
 Yet Tito, the son of Italian immigrants, comes across more as a staid suit than a risk-taking eccentric, speaking of his quest in dry, almost humorless terms. 
 &quot;He's pretty intense, focused, pretty strategic, thinks things out ahead of time,&quot; said his son, Michael, 26. &quot;He's not an adventurer or thrill-seeker. Most of the time, he's very conservative. Most of the time, he's wearing a suit, and he'll only ever wear a white shirt.&quot; The elder Tito does drive a Ferrari, but, he insisted, &quot;I don't drive very fast.&quot; 
 Here, he's bunking in a cramped dormitory at Russia's famed Star City training facility and trying to keep up with classroom lectures and simulator sessions. A wiry longtime jogger, the 1.65-meter, 63-kilogram Tito said he had no problems during three months of training last year and looked forward to another three this year. 
 Tito is a little defensive about the money aspect. &quot;You just can't disqualify a person because he's wealthy,&quot; he said. &quot;It's not my fault - I didn't intend to become wealthy.&quot; 
 But he's also a realist. After he came down with pneumonia last week, the Russians insisted on hospitalizing him. &quot;I think they're pampering me,&quot; he said before they released him last Friday. &quot;They are like, 'This guy has to get better. We need his money.'&quot;

TITLE: 2 Studies Reveal Code of DNA
AUTHOR: By Malcolm Ritter
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON - In a pair of landmark studies that offer the first detailed look at virtually the entire human genetic code, scientists say they see remarkably few genes - not all that many more than in a fruit fly.
 The research also revealed new leads for finding roots of disease and confirmed that men can take the blame - or credit - for creating most inherited genetic mutations.
 The analyses were performed by the two teams that made headlines last year for determining nearly all the &quot;letters&quot; of the human DNA code. That 3-billion-letter code, called the genome, is a chemical sequence that contains the basic information for building and running a human body.
 &quot;We suddenly have the global view, the view of the earth from the moon, and it's pretty thrilling,&quot; commented Dr. Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health who now heads the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
 The genome work is expected to help scientists find disease-promoting genes, develop better drugs, tailor therapies to particular patients, evaluate environmental hazards and study human evolution and migration.
 One scientific team, a consortium of federal and institutional researchers in the United States and scientists in five other countries, is publishing its results in Thursday's issue of Nature. The other team, centered at Celera Genomics in Rockville, Md., is publishing in Friday's issue of Science.
 The two teams, which worked independently, estimated roughly the same number of human genes: about 26,000 to 39,000 according to Celera, and about 30,000 to 40,000 according to the consortium. Scientists with both groups said the best bet is something fewer than 35,000.
 That's surprisingly low, leaders of both scientific teams said.
 While the result agrees with some recent estimates, it's in the lower range of what scientists have thought. Some researchers put the count above 100,000 genes.
 The new estimates are fairly close to the 25,000 genes in the small flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana, the 19,000 genes in the tiny worm C. elegans, or the 13,600 genes in the fruitfly Drosophila.
 &quot;There are many people who are bothered by the fact that they don't seem to have (many) more than twice as many genes as a fruit fly,&quot; said Eric Lander, director of the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research in Cambridge, Mass., and a member of the international consortium. &quot;It seems to be some kind of affront to human dignity.&quot;
 So why are humans so much more complex than a fruit fly or worm?
 That remains a mystery. But scientists stress that the sheer number of genes is only a starting point for creating complexity.
 Both groups also say their data have already helped scientists find genes that promote disease. The consortium's paper lists about 30 such genes found with the help of its data, and J. Craig Venter, president of Celera, said his group's database has led to finding of such genes as well.

TITLE: Violence Still the Norm in Sharon's 1st Week
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: JERUSALEM - Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians in the West Bank Monday as Israel's right-wing Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon sought to forge a unity government.
 Sharon's right-wing Likud party was due to hold new talks with the center-left Labor party to try to forge a broad coalition in attempt to contain the violence.
 But the latest killings underlined the challenges facing Sharon, who won a crushing victory over outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak in elections last Tuesday.
 Soldiers killed Ziad Abu Sway when they opened fire on a bus carrying Pa les tinian laborers near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian witnesses and hospital sources said.
 Atef Ahmed al-Nabulsi was shot dead near the West Bank city of Ramallah and was taken by Israeli soldiers to a military base. Israeli security sources confirmed Nabulsi had died.
 The deaths followed the killing by Palestinian gunmen of Jewish settler Tsahi Sasson, 35, as he drove along a road outside Jerusalem Sunday.
 The death toll in more than four months of confrontation has risen to at least 321 Palestinians, 53 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs.
 The violence erupted in late September when peace talks reached deadlock and Sharon visited a site in Jerusalem sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
 Sharon, 72, has demanded that Palestinians end their protests against Israeli occupation before peace talks resume, but some Palestinians have vowed to step up their struggle.
 &quot;The Middle East region is on the verge of more violence and confrontation and Sharon's criminal history represents only one episode of the bloodshed and massacres,&quot; Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the militant Islamic organization Hamas, told Saudi Arabia's Arabic-language newspaper al-Watan.
 Likud party lawmaker Moshe Arens told Israel Radio there would be no negotiations as long as there was violence.
 &quot;Sharon says it clearly - there will be no peace talks as long as there is violence,&quot; he said.
 But Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian security official, said it was up to Sharon to make reconciliatory moves such as lifting a blockade of Palestinian areas.
 &quot;The Palestinian Authority has the capability and the desire to keep control and it is not true that we have lost control in the field,&quot; Rajoub told Israel Radio.
 &quot;I think the ball is in the court of the government of Israel, which must encourage the Palestinian Authority.&quot;
 Palestinian officials said they expected Israel to allow flights to resume from Gaza International Airport for nine hours in order to allow Palestinian pilgrims to travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
 Israel has overriding security responsibility for Gaza's only international airport. It has closed it as part of the blockade, intended to stop guerrilla attacks in Israel. But Palestinians view the shutdown as collective punishment for the unrest.
 Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has said he is keeping a close eye on Sharon's coalition talks and will give the Israeli leader a chance to prove he was serious about peace.
 Arabs regard Sharon as a war criminal because he orchestrated Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Hundreds of Palestinian refugees were massacred in Beirut by right-wing Lebanese gunmen backed by Israeli forces.

TITLE: Walk Down the Aisle, Documents in Hand
AUTHOR: By Charles Digges and Masha Kaminskaya STAFF WRITERS
TEXT: Finding and marrying one's soul-mate in Russia, regardless of the culture you have come from, is certainly an exhilarating experience. It involves the integration of different worlds, the evapration of borders, and the occasional birth of odd pidgin languages and culinary compromises.
 But marrying a local also involves dealing with Russia's notorious red tape, which, while it is not much worse than the usual bureaucracy faced here in any situation, nonetheless presents a headache to many foreigners who are trying to cut through it.
 One of the first surprises for many foreigners is that any wedding in Russia is an entirely municipal affair. If you want a church wedding, bear this in mind, because priests are not vested by the state of Russia to declare any couple husband and wife officially. This can only be done by the officials at a <strong>ZAGS</strong>, or a Citizens' Records Center. 
 There, under the gaze of bureaucrats, the bride and groom may kiss, but all that is really required until death do they part is their signatures on the marriage license. A church wedding can then be arranged as a separate affair.
 To start the wedding ball rolling, the foreigner and beloved local must first make an appointment with <strong>Tatyana Petrova</strong>, who is the chief of the department that oversees the city ZAGS offices. She can be reached at <strong>271-39-85</strong>, Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at her offices at <strong>39 Tavricheskaya Ulitsa</strong>.
 Petrova has 15 years' experience marrying locals off to foreigners, and without her help, your paper chase will end before it begins.
 &quot;It is first of all necessary to prove that the foreigner is not currently married,&quot; said Petrova.
 &quot;The country the foreigner comes from must issue a document confirming that he or she is single.&quot;
 Russia's passport system has a stamp for every twist in the bearer's biography, and whether a local is single, married or divorced can be read at a glance. This is not the case in most other countries, so foreigners must secure documents from their consulates stating that they are eligible to be married. Check first with your consulate or embassy that they are able to do this for you, as not all of them have the authority to do so. In these cases, the marriage authorities in the foreigner's country must send an affidavit testifying he or she has never been married.
 &quot;This document can have various names. Some countries call it a marriage certificate, others an affidavit,&quot; said Petrova.
 Yel Kurd Osama, a 27-year-old Palestinian doctor, was able to get his documents from his consulate in about a week, he said. He had never been married before when he met Olga, then 17, nine years ago, and the two fell madly in love.
 &quot;The only problem we had was that we had to wait for Olga to turn 18,&quot; said Yel Kurd, referring to Russia's age of majority for marriage. &quot;But once that was out of the way, the rest was easy.&quot;
 Matters are more complex for those foreigners who have been married before, and it is here that the couple's commitment to marriage begins a trial by bureaucratic fire.
 In addition to submitting the eligibility affidavit, foreigners who have been married before must also obtain court documents from their home countries, confirming that the previous marriage has been dissolved. For those whose previous spouses have died, a death certificate must be obtained.
 Petrov stressed, however, that entired divorce decisions should not be submitted. Instead, divorcees need submit only those portions of the court decisions that state the divorce litigants' names, the date of the divorce, the court case number of the divorce, where the divorce was filed, and that part of the legal text indicating that the marriage had been dissolved.
 Legal separations and intermediate decisions where the divorce has not yet taken legal effect in the home country are not accepted, said Petrova.
 If the foreigner's country is a signatory of The Hague Convention - which includes European and North American countries - documents obtained from the foreigner's home country must bear an &quot;apostil&quot; which is a universally recognized testament to the documents' authenticity. The apostil can appear as a separate document accompanying those it verifies, or can be stamped on the documents themselves.
 The apostil is obtained from the agency in the foreigner's home country that will be furnishing the necessary documents. For example, a divorced U.S. citizen marrying a Russian woman - which Petrova said was the most common scenario in her experience - will receive the apostil from the country court in the state where his divorce was finalized.
 Once the documents have been assembled - usually with the help of generous relatives back home - they must be translated into Russian and notarized, along with the main pages of the foreigner's passport.
 For this purpose, Petrova recommends the <strong>City Center of Translations </strong>because of its long experience with foreign marriage documents. They are located at <strong>15 Bronnitskaya Ulitsa</strong> and can be reached by phone at <strong>112-65-15</strong>.
 Lastly, the foreigner must show a valid visa and local registration to Petrova.
 Once this dossier is assembled, the couple brings it to Petrova for inspection. If everything is in order, the couple moves on to the next step, which is filling out the application for marriage, a mercifully short document that Petrova helps the couple fill out. She is also responsible for approving the application, so pay attention to her advice.
 That done, the couple heads to any Sberbank, pays a 100 ruble ($3.50) filing fee, and takes the receipt and the application to one of the two wedding palaces in St. Petersburg where foreigners can get married (see below). Previously, foreigners were only able to get married in Wedding Palace No. 3, but aftergovernor general of the Northwest Region Viktor Cherkesov &quot;stole&quot; the building for his own offices (in the words of Petrova,) foreigners are now permitted to do so in both Palace No. 1 and Palace No. 2.
 There, the application is filed and the couple is given a date anywhere from a month to two months in the future for the big day - though in special circumstances, like expiring foreign visas or very swollen bellies, couple can jump the line for an earlier date.
 If Deputy Duma Speaker and LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky gets his way, polygamy and polyandry may both be legalized in a measure proposed to counteract the dramatic decline of birth rates in Russia. However, having passed once through the bureaucratic machine, you may well question the necessity of a second husband or wife. 
 
 Wedding Palace No. 1, 28 Angliiskaya Naberezhnaya; Wedding Palace No. 2, 52 Furshtatskaya Ulitsa.

TITLE: Lovers' Day Noted for Murder and Cruelty
AUTHOR: By Tom Masters
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Valentine's Day in history has very little in the spirit of roses and chocolates to recommend it. Indeed, St. Valentine himself was beaten to death with clubs and then rather superfluously beheaded on <strong>14 Feb, 269.</strong> Roman priest Valentine married couples in secret, despite a temporary ban on marriage imposed by Claudius The Cruel. One night, the renegade pastor was caught mid-nuptial and the rest is, as they say, history. 
 Other suitably barbaric events on Valentine's day include the Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago on <strong>14 Feb, 1929. </strong>Dubbed &quot;the most spectacular mob hit in gangland history&quot; by crime buffs, the hit polished off five enemies of Al Capone, but missed his arch-foil, Bugs Moran. In fact, the killings proved too much for Capone's until then adoring public. The bootleg wars that had sprung up under prohibition swiftly came to an end, Capone spent 10 years on Alcatraz, where he suffered syphilitic dementia and then settled down to a peaceful life until his death in 1947.
 Another cuddly figure, Ivan the Terrible, consolidated his power in Moscow on <strong>14 Feb, 1565. </strong>Despite being tsar since the age of three, it was not until Ivan set up his oprichnina that he became the all-powerful, bloody despot history remembers so fondly.
 The oprichnina were a select group of men loyal to Ivan who lived like gods in Moscow, brutally ridding Russia of &quot;traitors.&quot; Their average daily activities would make Genghis Khan blush, and included boiling people alive, cutting off people's noses, playing football with their decapitated heads in front of their families and forcing entire villages to jump into rivers in mid-winter (thoughtfully helping them to sink with pikes).
 Despite being best remembered for his brutality, Ivan finally defeated the Tatars and considerably reformed and centralized the system of government. But with such colorful excesses, we can hardly be expected to remember that.
 Kirill, the Slavic Monk credited with creating the Cyrillic alphabet, died on <strong>Feb. 14, 869, </strong>alongside the Julian Calendar, which was finally abolished in Russia on <strong>Feb. 14, 1918 </strong>and replaced with the &quot;new style&quot; or Gregorian Calendar by Lenin.
 On Valentine's Day <strong>1956, </strong>the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union assembled, in which Krushchev denounced the violent repression and personality cult of Josef Stalin. The world's favorite shoe-banging communist leader set in motion a wave of relative freedoms, which led to the publication of Solzhenytsin's chilling &quot;A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich&quot; among other works, bringing to light the every day horror of Stalinism. Even the positive things that happened on Valentine's Day seem to have been brutality-related.
 In fact, the only friendly historical event that appears to have happened on this romantic date was the conclusion of a Soviet-China friendship pact in<strong> 1950. </strong>Unfortunately it was signed by Josef Stalin and Mao Tse-tung, responsible collectively for the deaths of tens of millions. Oh well, Happy Valentine's Day.

TITLE: City's Best Loved Transvestite Hangs Up Wig
TEXT: Maria-Luisa Ciccone Vermirial de Estaflor, otherwise known as Volodya, is perhaps St. Petersburg's most famous transvestite. Presenting her idiosyncratic show at the city's oldest surviving gay club, Jungle, for over two years, Maria is finally leaving to launch her solo career. Not only a transvestite, Maria works as an actor at theaters throughout the city and has a four-octave singing range. She found time to talk to <strong>Tom Masters </strong>about her career, love life and soap operas. 
 
 <strong>Q:</strong> When did Maria first appear at Jungle?
 <strong>A: </strong>I first appeared at Christmas, Jan. 7 1999 - just like a Christmas fairy-tale. I used to go to Jungle with my friends and later went there to look for employment as a barmaid. But they told me that they didn't use women for that type of work, so I became the presenter of the show instead. Maria had a complicated and unexpected birth; she began on stage as Santa Claus during a Christmas show, then unexpectedly morphed into a parody of Urmas Ott [a famous Estonian presenter on Russian television]. This was not a great success, however, and so, in the style of Alla Pugacheva, we wanted to do a show called &quot;Christmas Meetings&quot; [Pugacheva's annual Yuletide offering] and so Urmas Ott underwent a bizarre change and out walked Maria as the presenter.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Any link to the soap opera &quot;Simply Maria?&quot;
 <strong>A: </strong>I'll let you in on a little secret. Ciccone is a homage to Madonna, Vermirial is from the soap opera &quot;The Rich Also Cry&quot; [Marianna Vermirial] and Maria de Estaflor is the star of &quot;Simply Maria&quot; [Maria proceeds to sing the theme tune for no particular reason].
 Soap operas are a form of inspiration to any lady of a certain age.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>How did the crowds first receive you at Jungle and how did you become the superstar that you are today?
 <strong>A: </strong>In fact, I never really tried to endear myself to the audiences as such, there was simply a very good atmosphere. I was warmly received by the actresses who work at Jungle and with their help I found new friends: not only among the artists but among the audience as well. A few men even declared their love for me and gave me flowers, but for some reason this has stopped of late ...
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>What do you particularly like among the acts that you present on stage?
 <strong>A: </strong>The unexpected, moments of abrupt transformation and surprise. I also like it when there is a clearly thought-out plot to an act, not just a song for the sake of a song or a wig for the sake of a wig, but when something interesting happens at the same time. Jungle's acts aren't just about feather boas and precious stones, the action has to be significant.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>So are you the Tiger Queen of Jungle then?
 <strong>A: </strong>No, not at all. I am not even a baby tiger. I am a fluffy white kitten, tender and affectionate. Sometimes I show my teeth, but usually in the spirit of fun and mischief. Once, one lady-performer from Moscow was really badly received by the crowd at Jungle, so I rather cruelly parodied her, which was mean, but in general I am kinder. I try to avoid being rude on stage; I look to give out warmth and to receive it in return from the audience.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>There were rumors that you were leaving Jungle last year and many people thought you had when you took a break. Why did you finally decide to leave?
 <strong>A: </strong>In fact, I only took time off to have a break from work. There were rumors I had left on maternity leave, but, alas, I hadn't yet found a suitable man. I really love Jungle, it's like my home - I was born and grew up there. But there always comes a time when you have to stop being a child and go out into the big bad world on your own. But I'll always come back.
 I'm actually going to be there at the end of the week, on Feb. 16, because that's my birthday and so I thought I'd go along and spread a last bit of love among my fans.
 In terms of my own future now, I am planning to find work not only as a presenter, but as a solo artist in my own right. I hope it will be successful.
 
 <strong>Q. </strong>So have you know found a suitable man?
 <strong>A. </strong>As far as my love life is going, I can tell you I am very happy right now. Since November, thanks to my friend Bertha, I have been with my current husband. I don't want to tell you his name, he'll get embarrassed, but I am at liberty to say that he is an officer, a brilliant plumber and a superb dancer. Most importantly of all, we are hopelessly in love.
 <strong>Q: </strong>What can you say about the future of gay St. Petersburg?
 <strong>A: </strong>Right now it's very hard to say what the future might hold. But I think the future will be positive. Already people relate to those of different sexual orientations as they do to their own. Nevertheless, all kinds of things can happen, so I don't want to sound blindly positive. The most important thing is to seek understanding in whatever environment you might find yourself.
 
 <strong>Q: </strong>Is there anything you would like to say to our readers who have not yet seen Maria on stage at Jungle?
 <strong>A: </strong>I'm not sure, have your readers heard about Jungle? Maybe some are curious to come by but are a little shy. I'd like to say that nothing comes of being afraid. It's not like going to the dentist! The club calls itself a &quot;night gay club&quot; [sic], but that doesn't mean that it's only for gay people. Straight boys and girls always come by too. Gay clubs are always full of open-minded, liberated people who don't feel ill at ease. I don't divide the public into gay and straight, my public are just those who come to watch the show, relax and have fun. So come by, have a look and decide yourself. 
 
 See Maria this Friday at Jungle, 8 Ul. Blokhina. Show starts at 2 a.m.

TITLE: When Your Color Makes You Suspect
AUTHOR: By Ali Nassor
TEXT: Just as I was beginning to wonder last week why my old friends the police were ignoring me, they stopped me again to give me their usual interrogation.
 Confronted with their habitual command, &quot;Show us your documents!&quot; I guessed that my passport bearing a stamp proving my legal residency would suffice. However, it wasn't my residency status they were after. Instead they sought a laughable document confirming that I was a &quot;real&quot; black man from Africa and not just someone from the North Caucasus who had painted himself &quot;more black&quot; to look less like a potential terrorist.
 According to many law enforcers, the color and origin of a person speak volumes; therefore I have often been a suspected drug dealer too. When they stop me, the police grab whatever they can find in my pockets, paying special attention all the while to their own addiction - cash. 
 Though I have adopted the habit of always keeping spare funds on me for begging policemen to avoid spending the night in a police cell, I've always been too poor to afford the price of their constantly hostile remarks. 
 Of course, ignorance can sometimes excuse their uttering of words that might elsewhere lead to court, but ignorance is sadly never a legal offense.
 That's why I stayed calm one morning last August when the protectors of law and order approached me as I rushed to the metro to get to work.
 Despite having every possible document with me, I still found myself taken to a nearby police station on suspicion of &quot;having something to hide,&quot; since my clothes and bag could serve as a good haven for drugs. I began to recall the good old days when local television depicted a black man as a creature who had never so much as come across a piece of cloth. Nowadays the modern Russian media portray him as a notorious drug-dealer.
 While the police at the station were seemingly surprised to see me dressed like a &quot;normal&quot; person, they soon got an answer to the puzzle as they discovered a pack of granulated perfumes commonly used in the Orient in my bag. To them it was something strange and therefore drugs. Here I was, once again a prisoner of their ignorance who would spend the whole day behind bars awaiting lab test results on the &quot;illicit specimen&quot; they had &quot;caught&quot; me with. 
 On my eventual release late that evening, I was seen off with very comforting words: &quot;Sorry comrade, it's our job ... as you know, most of you negroes deal with narcotics here ... I'm sure they would treat us worse in your country.&quot; 
 I was even more surprised when I found my pockets intact. But I thought it might have been thanks to a good cop, who, from the start seemed to doubt I was the right target. 
 I had expected such events last summer, as it was just after a terrorist bomb explosion in Moscow and the ensuing &quot;Whirlwind anti-terror&quot; operation was blowing into St. Petersburg - particularly in the direction of those who looked darker. Though I'm not from the Caucasus, my name fits that of a potential terrorist from the South.
 I am also still yet to learn proper ways to avoid small-time bandits and skinheads who have always been my regular assailants to the extent of losing my front tooth while a nearby cop was pretending not to notice what was happening.
 My year 2001 resolutions included seeking permission to carry a gun and hand grenades for self-defense, as well as making enough money to afford hiring a team of bodyguards. I would also go naked to avoid drug and currency searches, were it not for the freezing temperatures and for fear that only a handful of my onlookers would understand that walking naked is a part of my culture and traditions.
 
 Ali Nassor is a press analyst for The St. Petersburg Times. He is from Zanzibar. 
 If you are one in 4.7 million and would like to write this column, please contact masters@sptimes.ru

TITLE: WHAT IS TO BE DONE?
TEXT: Looking for some Valentine's Day clubbing? Dance the night away with your sweetheart at any of a number of V-Day parties scheduled for Wednesday: Check out the all-night Valentine's Day party at <strong>Faculty, </strong>featuring bands Solnechny Udar (pop/rock), Ackee Wa-Wa (reggae) and DJ Nadezhda (disco). Contests, prizes, and gifts will be available for you and your Valentine. 9 p.m., 50-60 rub., 6 Pr. Dobrolyubova, M: Sportivnaya. 233-06-72.

TITLE: Mickelson Triumphs In Comedy of Errors
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SAN DIEGO, California - Phil Mickelson spent the week at the Buick Invitational recovering from food poisoning that kept him from practising and barely strong enough to play. In the end, it was Frank Lickliter who felt sick to his stomach.
 Losing to Mickelson on the third playoff hole Sunday was bad enough. Worse yet was the score Mickelson required - a double bogey.
 &quot;Winning feels great,&quot; Mickelson said of his 18th career victory, none remotely resembling this sideshow.
 With Tiger Woods having missed the three-man playoff by 2 strokes and Davis Love III eliminated on the second extra hole, Mickelson did everything possible to hand Lickliter his first victory after 158 starts on tour.
 &quot;I'm still in shock,&quot; Lickliter said, fighting back tears just moments after a three-putt for triple bogey.
 Mickelson fanned his drive on the 383-meter 17th hole over the trees and into a canyon. All Lickliter had to do was find a flat piece of ground in play, and victory was all but assured.
 Lickliter pulled out his driver. What followed was a mighty lash and words that can't be repeated as the ball followed Mickelson's straight into the canyon.
 Both players hit provisional tee shots in the fairway, assuming the balls would never be found. Both of them were, meaning Mickelson and Lickliter had to pick up their second tee shots and hit them again.
 Lickliter split the middle with his third shot, while Mickelson again pushed his to the right and began screaming at the trees lining the canyon at Torrey Pines. &quot;Oh, no! Spit it out,&quot; he implored.
 They did, but still left him a miserable lie, and Mickelson was lucky to hit his approach within 8 meters for a 2-putt double bogey.
 Lickliter nailed his wedge within 4 meters, but then hit his first putt over a meter by, and missed again on his second.

TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Lewis vs. Tyson?

LONDON (Reuters) - World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis could meet Mike Tyson on July 21, Lewiss business manager Adrian Ogun said on Sunday.
 &quot;We are ready to start negotiations for a summer fight,&quot; Ogun told BBC Radio, &quot;July 21 is the date that we are looking for.&quot;
 Ogun, who was due to fly to South Africa on Sunday to negotiate a possible venue for Lewis's title defense against American Hasim Rahman on April 21, said that Lewis versus Tyson would be the biggest fight ever, and agreed it could be worth around $100 million.
 
Players Walk Out

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Player representatives walked out of talks held on Monday with soccer's leaders, dashing the sport's hope of having a unified proposal when it meets later on this week with the European Union.
 FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Lennart Johannsen, the president of the Union of European Football Associations, are scheduled to meet on Friday in Brussels, Belgium, with the European Commission, the EU's executive body.
 The European Commission has called the current system of player transfers illegal, because only players contracts whose contracts withtheir clubs have expired and who switching from teams in one EU nation to another are allowed to move without transfer fees.
 The EU says that soccer players should have the same freedom as other EU workers to switch jobs at any time.
 
MacArthur Finishes

LES SABLES D'OLONNE, France (Reuters) - Ellen MacArthur finished second in the Vendee Globe round-the-world-race, receiving a massive welcome as she came across the finish line aboard Kingfisher at 7:36 p.m. on Sunday.
 The Briton, who was the youngest competitor in the single-handed race at 24 years old , had been at sea for 94 days, four hours, 25 minutes and 40 seconds.
 She became the fastest woman and youngest person ever to sail solo round the world. </style>

TITLE: Giant Killers Prevail in French Cup
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: Spain's last-place club Racing Santander pulled off the shock of the soccer weekend in Europe when it hammered third place Barcelona 4-0 in the Spanish first division.
 Athletic Bilbao, the side Barcelona scored seven times against last week, bounced back with a 1-0 victory over leaders Real Madrid. 
 The French Cup also produced some surprises when first division sides Olympique Marseille, Stade Rennes and Sedan all went out to lower league opposition.
 
 <strong>England. </strong>Manchester United saw their huge lead at the top of the premier league trimmed to 13 points after only managing a 1-1 draw at Chelsea.
 Chelsea won the match 5-0 last season and were ahead in the 24th minute when a Paul Scholes back-header allowed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to put the ball past United's stand-in goalkeeper Raimond Van der Gouw.
 Gianfranco Zola had an effort ruled out for Chelsea before Andy Cole equalised after 69 minutes.
 United has 63 points, with Arsenal, who beat Ipswich 1-0 thanks to a Thierry Henry goal, on 50.
 Liverpool remains in third on 45 points after a disputed Jari Litmanen penalty gave it a 1-1 draw at fourth-placed Sunderland. Don Hutchison had put Sunderland in front after 51 minutes.
 
 <strong>Spain. </strong>Racing Santander moved off the bottom of the first division with a stunning 4-0 victory over Barcelona. The result gave Racing their first points in six games.
 A fine solo effort from Uruguayan Mario Regueiro in the first half, headers from Luis Ramis and Claudio Arzeno and a fierce drive from Argentine striker Javier Mazzoni in the second ended Barcelona's 18-match unbeaten run.
 Despite the defeat, Barcelona remained third in the league.
 First-place Real Madrid saw their lead cut to four points after going down 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao courtesy of a fourth-minute strike from Bittor Alkiza.
 A hat-trick from Diego Tristan helped second place Deportivo Coruna to a comfortable 4-1 win over Real Sociedad. Donato was Deportivo's other goalscorer, while Francisco De Pedro scored a late consolation for Real.
 
 <strong>France. </strong>Second division Chateauroux, who had already beaten three first division sides in cup competitions this season, added another big-name scalp when they beat Olympique Marseille 1-0 in the French Cup.
 Laurent Dufresne's strike four minutes from time was enough to eliminate the former European Cup winners.
 Joining Marseille were Sedan and Stade Rennes. Only six first division sides will go into the hat for the round of 16.
 Willy Renou's 70th-minute goal saw amateurs Fontenay, who play in the French equivalent of the fourth division, knock out first division high-flyers Sedan.
 Stade Rennes also went the same way ousted by third division Amiens 3-1.
 Nantes kept alive their hopes of a third successive French Cup triumph with a 1-0 win over Girondins Bordeaux.
 A goal from substitute Marama Vahirua in the 64th minute was enough to give the holders their 14th consecutive win in the competition.
 
 <strong>Italy. </strong>Filippo Inzaghi netted his eighth goal of the season as Juventus beat Napoli 3-0.
 Darko Kovacevic and Alessandro Del Piero were Juve's other scorers. The victory kept them in second place six points behind leaders AS Roma, who won 2-1 away to Bologna.
 Gabriel Batistuta opened the scoring for Roma with an 11th-minute penalty, his 14th goal of the season. Emerson then netted his first Serie A goal to put Roma 2-0 up.
 Defender Emanuele Brioschi headed home for Bologna, who were reduced to 10 men in the 22nd minute after Jonatan Binotto was dismissed.
 
 (For other results, see Scorecard.)

TITLE: Canadiens Fighting Back for Playoff Berth
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: BUFFALO, New York - The Montreal Canadiens have had little reason for hope when trailing a game after two periods this season. Patrick Poulin supplied that hope on Sunday.
 Poulin scored twice in a 3:50 span of the third period to rally the Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
 &quot;It was a big win for us,&quot; said Poulin, who scored his 100th NHL goal with 8:36 remaining to forge a 3-3 tie and beat Dominik Hasek for the game-winner with 4:46 left to give Montreal its second win in as many nights.
 The Canadiens had been 0-25-3 this season when trailing after 40 minutes and had won just once in 61 games over the past two seasons when behind after two periods.
 Jeff Hackett stopped 23 shots for Montreal and Oleg Petrov had a goal and two assists for the Canadiens, who moved within 11 points of Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth. &quot;This team played excellent, outstanding. I just hope we haven't dug ourselves in too deep a hole,&quot; Hackett said of Montreal's playoff prospects.
 Dave Andreychuk collected a goal and an assist for Buffalo, which squandered a chance for its fourth straight win.
 
 <strong>Wild 4, Penguins 2. </strong>At Minnesota, Jamie McLennan made 27 saves as the expansion Wild cooled off red-hot Alexei Kovalev and shut down Mario Lemieux in a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
 Kovalev was kept off the scoresheet by the defensive-minded Wild after recording back-to-back hat tricks and Lemieux failed to register a point for only the second time in 19 games since ending his retirement on Dec. 27.
 Curtis Leschyshyn scored the game-winner midway through the third period with just his second goal of the season. He came out of the penalty box, took a pass from Antti Laaksonen at the Penguins' blue line and snapped a shot from the slot past Pittsburgh goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin for a 3-1 lead. Robert Lang scored both Pittsburgh goals.
 
 <strong>Rangers 1, Devils 1. </strong>In New York, Turner Stevenson scored a power-play goal at 4:33 of the third period as the New Jersey Devils took their unbeaten streak against the Rangers to four years and 22 games with a 1-1 tie.
 The Rangers had grabbed the lead on Theo Fleury's short-handed goal with 5:18 left in the second period as he reached the 30-goal plateau for the eighth time in his career.
 New Jersey's Martin Brodeur made 33 saves to help the Devils improve to 14-0-8 against the Rangers since a 3-0 loss on Jan. 12, 1997. New York goalie Mike Richter stopped 27 shots.
 
 <strong>Stars 3, Blues 3. </strong>In Dallas, Joe Nieuwendyk and Sergei Zubov scored powerplay goals as the Stars erased a two-goal deficit to salvage a 3-3 tie with the St. Louis Blues.
 Mike Modano also scored on the power play for Dallas, which was 3-for-5 with the man advantage and moved within four points of first-place San Jose in the Pacific Division.
 Jochen Hecht's short-handed goal midway through the second period had given St. Louis a 3-1 lead. The Blues also got a goal from their newest acquisition, veteran Scott Mellanby.
 
 <strong>Mighty Ducks 2, Hurricanes 2. </strong>In Anaheim, Mike Leclerc scored with 8:26 left to lift the Mighty Ducks to a 2-2 tie with the Carolina Hurricanes and snap Anaheim's eight-game home losing streak.
 Rob DiMaio scored a short-handed goal and Rod Brind'Amour added a powerplay tally for the Hurricanes, who squandered a third-period lead but picked up a point to climb within two points of Boston for the final playoff berth in the East.
 Teemu Selanne scored just 37 seconds into the contest for Anaheim, but Carolina netminder Arturs Irbe's made 32 saves.
 
 <strong>Coyotes 3, Blackhawks 2. </strong>In Phoenix, Mike Sullivan and Travis Green ended long goal-scoring droughts and Jeremy Roenick added the eventual game-winner as the Coyotes edged the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2.
 Sullivan scored his first goal in 19 games in the first period and Green snapped a 23-game drought in the second.
 Sean Burke made 26 saves and helped Phoenix kill all five Blackhawks power plays, including a 41-second two-man advantage early in the third period.
 Eric Daze scored one goal set up Tony Amonte's 28th of the season for Chicago.

TITLE: Iverson Catches Fire As East Downs West
AUTHOR: By Joseph White
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON - During a time-out with 5:34 to play in the NBA All-Star game, Allen Iverson slapped his hand on the scorer's table and guaranteed victory.
 Never mind that the heavily favored Western Conference was leading by 13 points. Or that this 50-year-old annual exhibition is usually more about show than desire as the clock winds down.
 Iverson was about to deliver.
 &quot;One of the guys [at the table] said we would do good by just letting them win by 10,&quot; Iverson said. &quot;I told them we were going to win. I was joking with him, telling him to bet something if he thought we weren't going to win. None of them wanted to bet, so obviously they knew something that God knew.&quot;
 Iverson and Vince Carter, with serious help from Stephon Marbury and Dikembe Mutombo, then finished the comeback that stunned the West on Sunday night. The Philadelphia 76ers guard finished with 25 points and was named MVP as the East overcame a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 111-110.
 &quot;We had every reason to make this like a regular All-Star game and lay down and stop playing, and it didn't happen,&quot; East coach Larry Brown said. &quot;I had no idea we could come from behind. It was a wonderful ending for us.&quot;
 The incredible finish, which featured a final-minute shoot out between Marbury and Kobe Bryant and a block by Carter on Tim Duncan at the buzzer, turned a sometimes routine All-Star game into an electric memory.
 &quot;It was like a championship game out there,&quot; said Mutombo, who had 22 rebounds. &quot;I've been in the All-Star game the last seven years, and I've never seen anything like this.&quot;
 It was what the NBA needed as the league wrestles with a post-Michael Jordan, post-lockout slump. All-Star weekend was starting to drag: Saturday's Slam Dunk competition was a bore, and Bryant openly questioned the game's value by saying he showed up only because he didn't want to get suspended.
 This year's season has been lopsided, with a talent-loaded West and a mediocre East. The trend continued early in Sunday's game as the East missed its first seven shots and had five turnovers to fall behind 11-0.
 The rout was on, it seemed, and a few scattered highlights would have to do the rest of the way. Carter had two eye-popping dunks in the second quarter - a 360-degree and a windmill - that would have won him the Slam Dunk contest for the second year running had he entered. Jason Kidd capped an 8-0 run with a 20-meter shot at the half time buzzer to give the West a 61-50 lead.
 But then came the fourth-quarter rally, in which Iverson all but screamed for the fans to give the young generation its due.
 &quot;You're never going to be able to replace Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Larry Bird,&quot; Iverson said. &quot;You're asking too much. They brought everything to the game. They made us able to come in with our own identity and our own image and be ourselves. We're not going to put our feet in those shoes.&quot;
 Iverson scored 15 of his 25 points in the final nine minutes. Marbury hit two 3-pointers in the final minute as he dueled Bryant and the lead seesawed.
 Bryant's short jumper made it 106-105, and his shot from six meters out gave the West a 108-105 lead with a minute left. Marbury, ecstatic over making his first All-Star appearance, tied the score on a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left.
 Bryant answered right back with another jumper, but Marbury did him one better with another 3-pointer that gave the East a 111-110 lead with 28 seconds left.
 The West set up for a final shot after inbounding with 10.9 seconds left. Bryant got the ball, but with everybody in the building expecting him to shoot - his injured teammate Shaquille O'Neal was probably certain of it - Bryant faked Marbury off his feet and then threw the ball to Duncan for a short shot that was partially blocked by Carter just before the buzzer.
 &quot;I was just reading the defense. I wasn't thinking about anything else, not about the fans, not about the end of the game,&quot; said Bryant, who led the West with 19 points. &quot;I had an opportunity at a shot, but I was thinking Tim had a better look.&quot;
 The East trailed 95-74 with nine minutes left after the West dominated the first 39 minutes behind its superior size. It appeared the game would come out looking like a mismatch that would back up all the Western Conference superiority theories that have been thrown around so frequently this season.
 &quot;Everybody was saying we couldn't win because of our size. It's not about size. It's about the size of your heart,&quot; Iverson said. &quot;Coming into the fourth quarter, we were all sitting on the sidelines saying 'Why not us? Why can't we be the ones to come back from a 19-point deficit [after three quarters] in an All-Star game?'&quot;