SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #651 (18), Friday, March 9, 2001
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TITLE: Mother Fights To Overturn Secret Adoption
AUTHOR: By Robyn Dixon
PUBLISHER: The Los Angeles Times
TEXT: NOVOPAVLOVSK, Southern Russia - Larisa Dushko caught a glimpse of the soft curve of her firstborn baby's bottom, nothing more. It took her six years even to get her hands on a photograph, and she has never held her daughter's hand or touched her face. 
 At birth, doctors called the baby a "monster" too terrible for her parents to look at, and her own grandfather tried to have her "put to sleep." Unknown to the parents, doctors in the southern Russian town of Novo pav lovsk faked the girl's death and sent her to a Russian baby home like a bundle of unwanted goods. 
 Now the child is six, a lovely girl living happily in America with her adoptive parents. 
 The 1998 Russian adoption, based on a falsified birth certificate and the forged permission of a fictitious mother, has wreaked despair on two sets of blameless, loving parents in Russia and the United States. 
 The American couple made a brave leap of faith and love when they went to Russia to adopt a disabled girl - a child they were told was unwanted. But this past summer they learned with anguish that her Russian parents, Larisa and Oleg Dushko, were desperately searching for the child they were told was dead, the baby they never willingly gave up. 
 Now a custody struggle looms, and one family's happiness will always be another's grief. 
 The story of Maria Bednova is about how the tentacles of Russian corruption reached into the heart of an American family. It is a story about provincial prejudices, the stigma of disability and how little has changed in the Russian regions since the fall of communism a decade ago. The names of the adoptive parents and the child have been suppressed in this article to protect their privacy. 
 The central victim of the fraud in Novo pavlovsk was the little girl, an infant born with a disease of the joints who never received the comfort of her birth mother, a child who lost her original family, culture and language, and who spent the first three years of her life in a baby home - even as her parents grieved bitterly over the "death" of their child. 
 Shortly after Larisa gave birth in the Ki rovskoye Territorial Medical Unit in July 1994, her father intervened. Sidor Ivanov, then a powerful police official in No vopavlovsk, was terrified that the stigma of a disabled grandchild would ruin his name, so he used his connections in the town hospital to have the baby sent away. 
 Tough and old-fashioned, he felt that it was his prerogative to make decisions for his daughter - and to keep the truth from her. 
 Still stuck in a Soviet mind-set, the hospital doctors were ready to do Ivanov a favor. Three days after Larisa gave birth, they told her the baby had died. Then they illegally concocted an identity for the child and sent her to an orphanage for children younger than five. 
 "I'd turn to the wall and cry, and walk and weep again," said Larisa, 26, recalling the day she was told her baby died. 
 Four and a half years passed. 
 On New Year's Eve 1999, Larisa's mother overcame her fear of her husband and broke silence. She told her son-in-law, Oleg, 26, that the baby had not died. Larisa was pregnant with her second son, Artyom, and Oleg, fearing the shock would damage his wife, kept the truth from her until March. 
 By mid-April, the couple had traced their child to the baby home in Stavropol, 185 kilometers away, and drove there immediately, expecting to collect an unresponsive, severely disabled child or to learn that she had died years earlier. 
 In one joyous minute, they learned that she was a lively, intelligent, pretty girl who could walk despite her disability. The next moment, they had lost her again: She had been adopted by Americans more than two years earlier. All they took home that day was a small photograph. But the myth that the baby was a monster, which had long haunted Larisa, was dead at last. 
 The Dushkos are now planning action to overturn the adoption. The American parents declined to be interviewed for this article. 
 The case, a cautionary tale for Americans adopting in Russia, is not isolated. Police in Stavropol, the provincial capital, are investigating two other foreign adoptions: Two local women have been arrested for allegedly taking bribes from foreigners to speed up delivery of adoption documents. And three Americans were detained as they tried to leave Russia in April with two adopted children; they were interrogated over payments they had made but were allowed to leave with the children the following day. 
 The two people who decided the baby's fate from the start were heads of two powerful clans and old friends. Ivanov, 61, Larisa's father, was an Interior Ministry lieutenant colonel in charge of traffic. Zhermena Sukhina, 50, a gynecologist, controls access to health care along with her husband, Anatoly Sukhin, chief doctor of the town's only hospital. 
 Vasily Balditsyn, editor in chief of the Stavropolskaya Pravda newspaper, explained the Soviet-style provincial clan culture and the relationships between local establishment figures like district administrators, police, tax officials, doctors, traffic police and factory chiefs: 
 "Their relationship is mostly based on the principle, 'I do a favor for you, and you do one for me.' They resolve all their problems within the town by a simple phone call to a clan member who will always help out whether or not it is quite legal. And he knows that, in a similar situation, he will likewise get help. In such cases, money rarely changes hands." 
 Sukhina said that she and the other doctors in the Dushko case had no reason to steal the child. But maternity doctor Nina Radchenko, who admitted to falsifying the hospital papers, said there was a motive: to help the baby's powerful grandfather, Ivanov. "We just decided to do him a favor," Radchenko said. 
 Soon after the baby's birth, Oleg said, he received a call from Sukhina. "She said, 'Your wife gave birth to a monster, and this monster is in pain.' She said it would not live long and the shorter time it lived the better. She said in most cases people give up babies like that." 
 "When she speaks, it's as if she's giving orders," he said. 
 Sukhina said the baby could not swallow, had no joints, had severe heart problems, one leg shorter than the other, poor brain circulation and a large birthmark disfiguring the face, according to Ivanov and the Dushkos. 
 "Who needs a baby like that?" Sukhina said in a recent interview at her home. "Of course it was a freak. It looked terrible. None of the joints would bend. Just because the face looked OK doesn't mean it was not a monster." 
 Ivanov went to Sukhina's house the night of his grandchild's birth, weeping and drinking vodka and tea for six hours. 
 "She said, 'Let's put it to sleep.' ... Maybe I thought it was illegal, but I trusted her," Ivanov said. 
 Sukhina's recollection is different: "He came to me and said, 'Zhermena Konstantinovna, can we do something to destroy this baby?"' Sukhina said. "I said, 'Are you out of your mind?'" 
 Ivanov said he approached anesthetist Vladimir Berezhnoi several times at Sukhina's suggestion, asking him to give the baby a lethal injection, but Berezhnoi refused. In retrospect, Ivanov said he felt bad about what he did. "But I had neighbors and they had a freak and it was in a wheelchair and looked like a monster. And for 30 years they went past my window, and I thought, 'Why should my children suffer like this?'" 
 Doctors dubbed the Dushko child Maria Yuriyevich Bednova - "Maria the Poor." They illegally issued a document certifying that the baby was abandoned and also faked a death certificate, which they gave to Larisa, Sukhina and Radchenko said. 
 "Yes, it was a violation. We brought this trouble on ourselves. Legally we can't be totally clean," said Radchenko, who said she is sorry for her role in the deception. 
 In addition, someone forged a fictitious mother's consent to the adoption. 
 Radchenko and Sukhina said Larisa saw the baby, then decided to give her up but would not sign a statement relinquishing her. 
 Sukhina said that the hospital routinely falsified documents like the death certificate. 
 "It's called a holy lie. We have a right to issue fake documents when it's done for the benefit of the patient," she said. "Does your system in America work purely legally, or do you have a humane attitude?" 
 In fact, the hospital was not legally entitled to issue the false death certificate. Sukhina was reprimanded for it by her husband, the chief doctor. 
 Larisa "knew all along that the baby was alive," Sukhina said. But Raisa Pozyabkina, chief of the maternity department in the Pyatigorsk hospital 50 kilometers away, who has treated Larisa extensively since 1995, said she was obsessed with the death of her baby. 
 "She always spoke of her first baby as a baby who died, or rather a monster who died. I can swear on the Bible that Larisa never knew her baby was alive. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise," she said. 
 In late October, after the Dushkos told their story on Russian television, Sukhina issued a letter repudiating the couple's story to the local newspaper, Golos Vremeni. The letter was signed by 33 hospital staff members. But two doctors whose names appeared said the signatories were called in by Sukhina or another senior member of the medical staff, given a plain sheet of paper with no letter attached and ordered to sign it. 
 Both doctors disagreed with the letter and requested anonymity, fearing dismissal. "People are afraid of [Sukhina]," one of them said. "They're afraid of losing their jobs." 
 After learning of her daughter's fate, Larisa confronted Sukhina. The doctor, she said, told her, "'It's no secret that Americans adopt such freaks only for their healthy organs, which they transplant. Forget about it. The girl is dead, and that's it.'" 
 Larisa is tormented by the knowledge that her daughter was abandoned in a baby home, desperate for love and help - while Larisa's father knew the child was alive and sent not a single kopeck. 
 In April, after the baby home director gave her a photograph of her daughter at age 3, Larisa took it to her father, who was ill in a hospital. He glanced only briefly at the pretty, smiling face, then threw the picture down on his bed. 
 "What now?" he challenged his daughter, she recalled. "Shall we declare this to all the world? Shall we ruin ourselves? Why did I meddle in this business?" 
 "I suddenly realized with horror that he could have done this thing," Larisa said. "He sat with his head down, saying nothing, and I was screaming at him, 'Father, say something! Explain yourself!'" 
 Ivanov's actions cost him his daughter's trust. During an interview, admitting the part he played, the retired policeman's eyes filled with tears at the thought of that lost trust. He swallowed hard, unable to speak. 
 The Dushkos set about finding the family that took in their child. They sent e-mail to many U.S. adoption agencies seeking information, and on July 5, Linda Perilstein of Cradle of Hope in Maryland confirmed that the agency processed the adoption. 
 Perilstein forwarded a brief, unsigned e-mail from the adoptive parents: "Please allow us to raise her with peace and tranquillity." Contacted by the Los Angeles Times, she declined to say whether her agency had investigated the case and refused to take any other questions. 
 It was a technical slip, from the records of a Russian court adoption hearing that was supposed to have been closed, that revealed the American family's name. 
 But it was a common name, so for three days Oleg sat at his computer scanning the Internet, getting advice from kind strangers in the United States and Canada. After sifting through thousands of similar names, he found what he was looking for, the name, phone number and address of the American mother. 
 The Dushkos broke their long story into six chapters and sent it to the American parents over the month of October. 
 "Now you know almost everything about us," the Dushkos wrote on Oct. 25. "We want to ask you one question: What would you do if you be we? ... We think about Maria and our life all the time. If you can understand us, our life without Maria is impossible." 
 "We are so very sorry for you and your situation. It is a very, very sad story," the Americans responded two days later. "You asked what we would do in your situation. Well, we think that we would feel betrayed and angry. We would probably go in search of answers just as you have done. We would experience every emotion, just as you have. In the end, we would want what is in the best interest of our daughter. We would want her to be where she would receive the best medical treatment for her condition, which we feel is here." 
 The Dushkos proposed an arrangement in which both families lived side by side in Russia or America, sharing equal parenting rights while the child carried their two surnames. The Dushkos have two sons, Konstantin, 4, and Artyom, a year old. 
 Responding two days later, the Americans rejected the joint parenting proposal. 
 "We do not feel that there is any quick or easy solution to this situation. I think that we must all consider much before we turn our lives upside down, much less these three children involved." 
 In response to the Dushkos' pleas to tell Maria they never gave her up, the Americans replied that it would be too disturbing for a 6-year-old child. 
 "We do not feel that it would be in her best interest to tell her that this contact has been made. This has been a very emotional time for us, and we feel that we may need to take a bit of a break from writing so many letters back and forth," they wrote Nov. 13. 
 About a week later, communication broke down after the Americans received a copy of the newspaper letter that Sukhina organized to repudiate the Dushkos' story. In an e-mail to the Americans on Nov. 21, the Dushkos said the letter was a fabrication "initiated by people who helped steal our baby from us in the hospital." 
 But the attorney for the American couple, Drew Whitmire, said his clients are now suspicious of the Dushkos. "They don't know who to believe. All they can tell you is that they love their child and want to keep their child. They're scared that someone is going to walk in and take their child," he said. 
 Moscow attorney Yelena Lvova, a leading adoption specialist, said that prospects of overturning the adoption in Russia were good because the documents in the case were clearly forged. However, to recover the child, the Dushkos would also have to take action in a U.S. court. 
 American attorney Ben Bruner, a specialist in adoption and international law, said that he believes the Dushkos could challenge the adoption in a state court, but that the cost of furnishing witnesses and evidence would be huge. By Russian standards, the Dushkos lead a comfortable life, but without a sponsor they would not be able to afford the legal costs of such a trial in the United States. 
 In late November, the Supreme Court in the American family's home state overturned a domestic adoption in which the child had lived for four years with adoptive parents. In that case, the court found, the biological mother lied to the biological father, telling him the baby was stillborn. 
 Larisa and Oleg Dushko now see the joint custody idea as "utopian" and "stupid." 
 "I was ready to do anything, to eat dirt, to give all my money to the [Americans] in order to meet them halfway and make a compromise, but we realized it's impossible. Now we're going to court with a clear conscience, knowing that we told them everything and we were fair and honest with them," Larisa said. 
 "I know that the [Americans] are excellent people. I am grateful to them for what they have done for Maria. And I know that they love her dearly. But so do I. And I am her mother." 
 Describing how she imagined her first meeting with her daughter, her voice collapsed and she wept. 
 She pictures herself and Oleg walking together, both holding their daughter. She sees the American couple walking close by, one of them holding her son Konstantin's hand, the other carrying baby Artyom. 
 "I'd like to see this picture in real life, very much indeed," she said.

TITLE: Government Insures Against Mir Damage
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - The Mir space station will most likely be brought down into the Pacific Ocean between March 18 and 20, and the Russian Aviation and Space Agency will insure it against any damage the crash could cause, officials said Tuesday. 
 After repeated delays, the agency, known by its Russian acronym Rosaviakosmos, promised to guide the ailing 15-year-old station down later this month, but has not named an exact date. 
 Rosaviakosmos spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said space officials are now waiting for the station to drift down naturally to an orbit about 250 kilometers from Earth instead of using up precious fuel to speed up the descent. 
 "We don't want to spend extra fuel to lower its orbit," Gorbunov said during an Internet news conference. 
 He said space officials want to save as much fuel as possible to make sure that they can properly control Mir's de-orbit. 
 After Mir reaches the 250-kilometer orbit by the end of this week, space officials will take a series of steps to prepare for the moment when a Progress cargo ship docked with the station will fire its engines and send the 130-ton station hurtling down to a remote stretch of the South Pacific. 
 The earliest date of Mir's dumping is March 13, but the "most likely dates are between March 18 and March 20" or possibly later, Gorbunov said. 
 The station is currently circling about 257 kilometers above the Earth, and the speed of its descent depends on solar activity that expands the atmosphere and creates friction between Mir and thin gasses high above Earth. 
 The long history of Mir's glitches has fed fears that it could spin out of control and rain up to 25 tons of debris on populated areas. 
 Japan has been especially concerned because Mir is expected to pass over its territory on its final, low orbit. "We have grown tired of repeating that there is no danger for Japan," Gorbunov said. 
 But mission control officials concede that they would only be able to guide the station down to a certain point and that they would not be able to observe its descent directly, online newspaper www.Gazeta.ru reported Tuesday.
 Just in case, Rosaviakosmos is negotiating with three Russian insurance companies for an insurance premium of $200 million against possible damage connected with Mir's descent. An agreement is expected to be signed shortly. 
 "The insurance is just another attempt to assuage fears," Gorbunov said.
 Meanwhile, space expert Yury Karash warned Tuesday that the real danger of the de-orbit may not be the debris but mutant fungi.
 Karash, who has undergone cosmonaut training and is an aerospace adviser, said there was a possibility that microorganisms, which have spent the last 15 years mutating in isolation aboard Mir, could present a threat if they survived the fall to Earth. 
 "I wouldn't overstate it - but a realistic problem exists," Karash told a news conference.
 Karash said his conclusions were based on research carried out by Russia's Institute of Medical and Biological Problems. 
 Researchers have said that the fungi could be especially virulent if mixed with Earth varieties that attack metal, glass and plastic. 
 Western health officials have in the past expressed concerns about microorganisms that could be brought back to Earth after a Russian microbiologist 13 years ago discovered the first of many aggressive forms of fungi inhabiting Mir. 
 
 <i>- AP, Reuters, SPT </i>

TITLE: Report: Tunnel Under Embassy Never Existed
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - A Russian counter-intelligence source dismissed reports of a U.S. eavesdropping tunnel under the Russian Embassy, saying on Thursday they were Washington's invention and aimed at discrediting spy suspect Robert Hanssen.
 The New York Times reported the existence of the tunnel last weekend, quoting unnamed officials as saying they believed the operation had been betrayed to the Russians by FBI agent Hanssen, who is charged with selling secrets to Moscow.
 RIA news agency quoted a high-ranking source in Russian counter-intelligence as saying the Cold War-era tunnel never existed, and that the report was intentionally circulated by U.S. secret services to &quot;burden Hanssen with a serious guilt.&quot;
 It quoted the unnamed source as saying, &quot;Americans had little&quot; concrete evidence against Hanssen, especially him &quot;being an agent ... and dug [the tunnel] under him.&quot;
 The source said rather than digging a special tunnel under the Soviet and then Russian embassy, U.S. secret services used underground telephone cable lines, sewage pipes and the central pillars of the building to spy on the personnel. 
 RIA said the monitoring system had been discovered and terminated by Moscow some 10 years ago.
 Russia has asked Washington for formal clarification of the tunnel reports and said, if proved true, they would amount to a blatant violation of recognized norms of international law.&quot;
 A U.S. federal judge on Monday ordered Hanssen, a veteran FBI agent who was arrested on Feb. 18 and faces life in prison or death if convicted, to stay in jail on the grounds that the government's evidence was &quot;exceptionally strong.&quot;
 Hanssen allegedly sold secrets to Russia and the Soviet Union since 1985, including names of double agents and U.S. electronic surveillance methods. His lawyers have said he is planning to plead not guilty.
 Moscow has so far declined any official comment on the affair.
 Hanssen's case is one of several espionage cases inflaming relations with Washington in recent months.
 U.S. businessman Edmond Pope was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison on charges of seeking information on an underwater torpedo. President Vladimir Putin pardoned him in December.
 Russian researcher Igor Sutyagin, who works for the prestigious USA and Canada institute, is on trial in a town near Moscow on charges of passing secrets to Western handlers. He denies the charges.

TITLE: Shuttle Blasts Off to Space Station
AUTHOR: By Brad Liston
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida - The space shuttle Discovery roared off its launch pad just after dawn on Thursday, easily outracing the rising sun on its way to deliver a new crew to the International Space Station.
 Lift-off at the Kennedy Space Center on Florida's Atlantic coastline came at 6:42 a.m. local time.
 The shuttle weighed more than 2,000 tons on the launch pad, but its rocket engines thundered with enough force to put that load into orbit more than 320 kilometers up in 8 1/2 minutes.
 All that to deliver three humans and about 4.5 tons of supplies to the space station, which has been under construction since 1998.
 This will be the first crew change on the station, an important milestone in the international effort to maintain a permanent presence in outer space.
 Russian Yury Usachev will be the station's new commander. He was joined on Discovery by American crewmates Susan Helms and James Voss. Both Americans are making their fifth spaceflight. Usachev, a veteran of the Soviet/Russian Mir program, has spent more than a year aboard that station.
 The current station crew, known as Expedition One, will return to Earth with Discovery's crew, led by veteran shuttle commander James Wetherbee.
 &quot;It looks like a beautiful day to go fly,&quot; launch director Mike Leinbach told the seven astronauts shortly before lift-off. &quot;See four of you back here in about 12 days and Expedition Two crew back here in about four months.&quot;
 &quot;Expedition Two is ready to relieve Expedition One,&quot; said Wetherbee.
 The mountainous rocket plume that rose in Discovery's wake changed colors from orange to yellow to white and then brilliant white as it caught more and more light from the rising sun that crept above the Atlantic.
 In space, the Expedition One team - William Shepherd, Yury Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov - was expected to gather at a space station window for a view of the plume, NASA said. Their orbital pass over Florida came too late for them to see the launch itself.
 The shuttle carries in its payload bay a new Italian module called Leonardo. The 6-meter-long cylinder will be attached to the station while cargo is transferred, then returned to the shuttle and brought back to Earth for future flights.
 This was NASA's second mission to the space station in as many months. It was also the first of five launches scheduled for the next six months. But all the construction activity has been overshadowed in recent weeks by reports of cost overruns, budget cuts and dramatic scale-backs for the far flung science post.
 With NASA fearing that it could run $4 billion over budget on the construction phase of the project, the Bush administration ordered some dramatic cuts, including a crew habitation module and an emergency evacuation vehicle.
 Both were needed to bring the station to a full compliment of seven astronauts, the number required to develop the station's scientific potential fully.
 But the space agency hopes to find a way out of its budget crisis.
 &quot;When all is said and done, when you see the International Space Station, I would anticipate that you won't be able to tell any difference,&quot; program manager Tommy Holloway told reporters in a pre-flight briefing.
 The station, dubbed Space Station Alpha by the Expedition One crew, is already the largest spacecraft ever flown. When completed, it should have more pressurized living space than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet and be one of the brightest objects in the sky seen from the Earth.
 NASA expects to spend at least $95 billion to build and operate the station for a decade or more. The United States and Russia are joined in the multinational partnership by Europe, Japan and Canada.
 In all, three crews will fly on this mission - Expedition Two on the way up, Expedition One on the way down, and four astronauts making the trip both ways. Joining Wetherbee are pilot James Kelly and spacewalkers Paul Richards and Australian-born Andrew Thomas, himself a space-station veteran having spent four months aboard Mir.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: French Connection
 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and French leader Jacques Chirac on Wednesday discussed tensions in Macedonia as well as an upcoming EU-Russia summit.
 A Kremlin spokesman said Putin and Chirac had spoken by telephone about what steps needed to be taken to handle the situation in Macedonia, where local troops and foreign peacekeepers have clashed with gunmen described by Macedonia as Albanian extremists.
 The clashes, on the border of NATO-controlled majority ethnic Albanian Kosovo, have prompted fresh fears of a revival of tensions in a wider area of the Balkans. Russia, which opposed NATO's air raids on Yugoslavia in 1999 but later sent peacekeepers to Kosovo, has expressed worries about the clashes. 
 
 
Traffic Hang-Up
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Drivers will soon be banned from using mobile phones without handsfree equipment while driving, and fined 20 rubles for not complying, Interfax news agency reported. 
 Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov signed the ban Tuesday, and it will become law on April 1, the government's press service said.
 Ironically, the fine to be inposed by the traffic police, or GIBDD, is less than an average minutely mobile phone connection charge.
 Russia is ahead of many coutries with this legislation: Neighboring Finland, which has the highest per capita mobile phone usage in the world, is only considering such legislaton, a spokesperson for the National Traffic Police of Finland said by telephone on Thursday. 
 According to the mobile phone specialty Web site gsmbox.co.uk, a driver is four times as likely to have an accident whle he or she is talking on a mobile phone. 
 
 
Joy Riders
 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's civil service does not skimp on cars for its officials, figures showed on Tuesday. 
 A spokesman for the state traffic police said that last year the number of official chauffeur-driven limousines for top government workers rose by 23,500 to 605,290.
 Out of this number, 40,000 are foreign cars, including Audis, BMWs and Mercedes. 
 The Trud newspaper said the sums spent by ministries on maintaining transport varied from as much as 20 million rubles ($697,800) a year at the Tax Ministry to 2.2 million rubles at the Nuclear Power Ministry. 
 "A country that is just pulling itself out of a deep crisis cannot afford such extravagance," the newspaper said. 
 
 
Moscow Wants Zhivilo
 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian prosecutors have sent documents to France backing up their request that a businessman be extradited on charges he tried to kill a Siberian political leader, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.
 Mikhail Zhivilo, a Russian aluminium boss whose bankrupted smelter has been taken over by rivals, was arrested in Paris last month on a Russian warrant.
 He was accused of plotting to kill Aman Tuleyev, governor of Kemerovo region, where the smelter is located.
 Zhivilo has denied the charges. His company has said that Zhivilo gave himself up and was seeking asylum in France. But French prosecutors have denied that Zhivilo turned himself in and said police caught him on the Russian warrant.
 
 
Kuchma Ultimatum 
 

KIEV (Reuters) - Embattled Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma told ministers and civil servants onTuesday that they had one week to publicly renounce ties to opposition groups - or quit. 
 The ultimatum put Kuchma back on the offensive in a snowballing political scandal that has grown out of the case of murdered journalist Georgy Gongadze. 
 "I suggest that every civil servant, starting with ministers, who are members of, or sympathize with, opposition movements, should decide whether to give up their jobs in state bodies or publicly renounce groups that are against the state," he told national and regional officials at a conference. 
 
 
U.S. Embassy Trial 
 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Moscow man who tried to fire a grenade launcher at the U.S. Embassy in 1999 during NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia went on trial for terrorism Tuesday, news reports said. 
 A lawyer for Alexander Suslikov said he had intended to fire the rocket-propelled grenade as a protest statement, not as an act of terror, which could get him 15 years in prison. "They did not have the intent to commit a terrorist act. They wanted to take action in response to the government's passive position on the bombardment of Yugoslavia," lawyer Andrei Shalamov told NTV television. 
 The attack on March 28, 1999, led to a gunbattle with police in front of the embassy. 



TITLE: Potential Investors Make Gusinsky an Offer
AUTHOR: By Andrei Zolotov Jr.
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Media-MOST confirmed Tuesday that Vladimir Gusinsky has received formal proposals from a consortium of potential investors, including U.S. media magnate Ted Turner and financier George Soros, to buy stakes in his holding company.
 As late as last week, both Media-MOST and Gazprom-Media officials said that despite the interest expressed by foreign investors, they still had many internal differences, and no clear proposal outlining the shape of the potential purchase had been made. 
 Media-MOST has been fighting off a takeover attempt by state-controlled Gazprom-Media, its shareholder and creditor.
 The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified sources familiar with the negotiations, reported that the group of investors expressed interest in buying around 60 percent of NTV. The newspaper also quoted Gazprom-Media general director Alfred Kokh as saying he was willing to sell part of Gazprom's 46 percent stake in NTV if the buyers first reach a deal to buy the bulk of Gusinsky's stock. He put NTV's total value at about $300 million.
 Media-MOST officials have named Turner, Soros, Sweden-based Modern Times Group, U.S.-based Capital Research & Management Co., which already owns 4.5 percent of NTV and TNT, and chairman of Russian company Evroseverneft Grigory Beryozkin as parties to the consortium. 
 When the interest on the part of the consortium was first announced by Media-MOST in January, its head of finance Christopher Renaud said the company would like to sell shares in NTV, TNT second-tier television network, Ekho Moskvy radio and Sem Dnei publishing house for about $300 million, which would allow the consortium to repay a Gazprom-guaranteed $262 million loan and thus regain control of shares transferred to Gazprom-Media as collateral.

TITLE: LAES Whistle Blower Keeping Up Job Fight
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: It has been nine months since environmentalist Sergei Kharitonov lost his job as the operator of the spent nuclear fuel storage at Leningrad Nuclear Power Station, or LAES, in what he says was the plant's attempt to shut him up. 
 But nine months later he is still fighting to get that job back. 
 LAES is located in the town of Sosnovy Bor, 60 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. The plant's four Chernobyl-type reactors are the oldest of their kind in Russia, and LAES has been plagued by accidents, financial problems, hunger strikes and conflicting reports about its safety. Kharitonov, who also worked as a volunteer at the Chernobyl clean-up in 1986, worked at LAES for 25 years. 
 In 1995 he began documenting the plant's environmental hazards. The same year, Kharitonov and Green World Sosnovy Bor, his environmental organization, protested the plant's attempt to squeeze twice as much nuclear waste into storage facilities than they were designed to hold. And in 1996, Kharitonov distributed photographs of the waste facility's cracked foundation, which showed ground water seeping through the floor. Environmentalists have estimated that the LAES storage facility has a potential contamination level 50 times that of Chernobyl. 
 Kharitonov's most recent dismissal is not the first time the plant has tried to fire him. In November 1997, he was dismissed after publishing an article calling for LAES's operating license to be revoked. 
 He took the plant to court. As a 25-year-veteran and legal status as a &quot;Chernobyl liquidator,&quot; he successfully claimed he could not be fired without two month's notice. The court agreed, citing Russia's labor code which stipulated that Chernobyl liquidators should be the last people to be sacked. 
 But when he returned to the plant the next month, he found his &quot;working facilities&quot; had been moved to the men's locker room.
 &quot;Starting December 1997 until the moment of my [most recent] dismissal, the plant's administration wouldn't let me to do my job, thought I was regularly getting paid, he said in a telephone interview this week. 
 &quot;I was forced to spend all my work days in the men's lockers - they wouldn't let me go further.&quot;
 On June 9, 2000, he was fired again, and so far he has not been as lucky with Sosnovy Bor courts, who he and his attorney, Alexei Pavlov, a lawyer with the Alexander Nikitin Environmental Center, accuse of bending to LAES pressures - not unlikely in a town where the budget depends heavily on the plant. 
 According to LAES's legal advisor Yelena Tuchkova, Kharitonov was fired because he wasn't fulfilling his duties, and for failing to pass the annual technical check-ups on his competence.
 In additional, Tuchkova said Kharitonov &quot;had created an unhealthy atmosphere at the storage facility.&quot; 
 Kharitonov, with the backing of Duma deputy Yuly Rybakov, appealed his dismissal to the Sosnovy Bor special prosecutor's office overseeing high security installations. But the prosecutor's aid Vladimir Nesvit threw the case out last week. 
 &quot;He lost his job because he wasn't doing his job - he systematically failed to fulfill his professional duties, and he repeatedly refused to pass the obligatory annual examination,&quot; Nesvit said in a telephone interview Wednesday. 
 &quot;Kharitonov did all he possibly could to be fired.&quot;
 Pavlov has appealed the case to the Leningrad oblast court, and Pavlov expects the hearings to take place in less than a month.
 &quot;If I didn't see clear ways to restore the justice, I wouldn't have taken this case,&quot; said Pavlov.
 &quot;All in all, Sergei's dismissal is not a result of his poor work but an angry reaction from LAES which wants to get rid of a troublemaker.&quot;

TITLE: No-Confidence Movement Picks Up Steam
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Pro-Kremlin and opposition lawmakers forged ahead Tuesday with a proposal that could force President Vladimir Putin to choose between firing his Cabinet or dissolving parliament. 
 The State Duma Council scheduled a vote on a motion of no confidence in the Cabinet for March 14, Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov told reporters. 
 If the motion is passed twice within three months, Putin must fire the Cabinet ministers or disband parliament. 
 The Communists proposed a no-confidence vote last month, but few thought the measure stood any chance until Monday, when legislators from the pro-Kremlin Unity party announced they would support it - prompting many to conclude the move had Putin's backing. 
 Unity members met Tuesday to decide how the party would vote but apparently failed to reach an agreement. Unity leader Boris Gryzlov said a decision would be made the day before the vote. 
 Monday, Gryzlov said he favored voting no-confidence in the Cabinet in order to spark early elections that he predicted would give his party even more seats. 
 But many observers say the Kremlin would not benefit from new elections and suspect other motives.

TITLE: Plant Keeping the Lid on Radiation Questions
AUTHOR: By Charles Digges
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Administrators of a controversial factory to clean radioactive waste metals for commercial use stressed the safety of the project on Tuesday, but only to media members who observers say were chosen for their ignorance of the dangers posed by the plant. 
 The plant, EKOMET-S, is situated on the grounds of the Leningrad Atomic Energy Station, or LAES, in Sosnovy Bor - a militarily closed town 60 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. The factory, which opens in May, plans to produce 5,000 tons of cleaned metal per year initially, with an expanded output of 150,000 tons a year if it gets the go-ahead to build more plants, according to Interfax.
 But EKOMET-S's proposal has met strong opposition from environmental groups and members of the Sosnovy Bor administration, who say the firm's raw material - taken from LAES' overflowing waste dumps - will expose users of products from kitchen utensils to cars to dangerously high levels of radiation. 
 They also say the firm has submitted incomplete documentation to Gosatomnadzor, the regulatory body, responsible for licensing nuclear facilities. 
 According to reporters and observers who attended Tuesday's press conference, these safety issues were not raised. 
 &quot;They obviously chose a group of 'friendly' publications who would not put the tough questions to them,&quot; said Oleg Bodrov of Greenworld Sosnovy Bor, a non-governmental environmental organization, in a telephone interview Wednesday. 
 Anna Sharogradskaya, director of the Northwest Center for Press Development, agreed. &quot;Sosnovy Bor is a closed town and it would have been much easier for [EKOMET-S] representatives to travel to St. Petersburg than for the press to travel to them,&quot; she said in a telephone interview Wednesday. 
 &quot;If they had been interested in discussing safety issues, they would have done that. Instead, they held the conference there, invited who they wanted and avoided tough questions.&quot; 
 A report by Interfax - which was invited - quoted Valery Buntushkin, an EKOMET-S spokesperson, as saying metals produced by the plant would emit some 30 microrems of radiation per hour. Though there is some dispute among scientists as to what a safe level is, 16 microrems per hour is the widelyaccepted norm. 
 Metals produced by the firm, therefore, will be nearly twice as radioactive. A reporter present at the conference - who requested anonymity - said reporters missed that element of the report.
 &quot;Actually, I don't think anyone knew what he was talking about,&quot; said the source. 
 When contacted on Wednesday, Buntushkin said through his secretary that the Interfax report was his &quot;only comment&quot; on the matter. 
 Aside from Interfax, however, the press conference made barely a ripple in the local media. The St. Petersburg Times - which has written critical reports on LAES in the past - was refused accreditation on the basis that its request was received too late, despite assurances from Buntushkin last week that there was &quot;still plenty of time&quot; to get on the list.
 No other local papers carried the report. 
 According to Interfax, EKOMET-S was built with $10 million in loans from Russian banks, which the report did not name, using the yet-to-be produced metals as collateral.

TITLE: New Fears Arise Over Danger to Journalists
AUTHOR: By Anna Dolgov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: KIMRY, TVER REGION - A shotgun cracked through the silence of a cold January night in this small town on the Volga River, sending a load of birdshot smashing through the ground-floor apartment window into a framed picture on the wall. 
 Journalist Fyodor Penkin recalls ducking behind a bookshelf, even as a second shot was fired at his kitchen window. 
 The attacker is still at large, but Penkin blames the security services. He sees a simple motive: to intimidate an independent journalist in the provinces. 
 While international attention focuses on the government's attempts to curb the big news organizations in Moscow, provincial media are also coming under increasing threat, according to media watchdog groups. 
 Last year, 54 journalists in Russia were beaten, stabbed or tear-gassed in apparent reprisal for reports critical of authorities, according to Russia's Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations. Already by mid-March this year, 15 more attacks had been reported. 
 The Paris-based World Association of Newspapers said last month that after Colombia, Russia was the world's most dangerous country for journalists. It lists six journalists killed last year in Russia; others say up to 16 have died. 
 Newspaper editions have been seized, television and radio stations taken off the air, journalists arrested and TV and photo cameras confiscated, according to the Glasnost Defense Foundation. 
 Relations between independent media and provincial authorities have never been rosy, but with Boris Yeltsin in the Kremlin, regional officials seemed to be restrained by his vocal defense of media freedom. 
 Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, also declares support for a free press. But human rights activists allege that Putin's actions indicate a major policy shift, and that provincial bosses are taking their cue from him. 
 &quot;Our regional political elite has always imitated the federal one,&quot; said Naum Nim, chief editor of the Index/Dossier on Censorship magazine, founded by Russia's Glasnost Defense Foundation. &quot;They see that this kind of behavior has been endorsed.&quot; 
 In September, Putin signed the Information Security Doctrine, which spoke of &quot;information wars&quot; waged against the government by unspecified foreign enemies. 
 The document urged creating more state-controlled media to ensure &quot;the broadcasting of reliable information to the Russian people.&quot; The provinces were quick to take up the idea. 
 Authorities have started to clear the way by reining in independent media, said Oleg Panfilov, the head of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations. 
 Kimry, 160 kilometers north of Moscow, is in an impoverished province of about 83,000 people. The town has graceful but crumbling mansions from a century ago and concrete blocks built in communist times.
 Its only independent newspaper is Vremya, or Volga Time, edited by Penkin, the victim of the birdshot attack. 
 Penkin says he has received scores of death threats and his windows have been smashed so often by bricks that he has installed bars. He has been questioned by tax police and his offices searched. Last month his newspaper was banned without explanation from 20 of about 40 shops in Kimry that carried it. 
 &quot;Here in Kimry we have the same things that are happening in Moscow - but in a twisted, distorted fashion,&quot; he said. 
 Boris Timoshenko, who monitors attacks on regional press for the Glasnost Defense Foundation, said the actions seem to be retribution for scores of articles in Volzhskoye Vremya accusing local officials of corruption. 
 Kimry has three other publications. One is owned by the district administration. Another, funded by a local distillery, is staunchly pro-government, and the third is a trade newspaper run by a factory. 
 Penkin said he is losing the battle for his newspaper, even though Kimry is in the Tver region, rated by watchdog groups as among the least hostile to the free press.

TITLE: World Gets Inside Look at Putin Online
AUTHOR: By Ron Popeski
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin answered questions live on the Internet on Tuesday, defending policies on reform, press freedom and the war in Chechnya and revealing his preferences in music, literature and leisure.
 Putin engaged in few polemics in an hour spent with journalists from two Russian Web sites and the British Broadcasting Corp.
 But he became plainly irritated with suggestions from Internet users that Russia's war against separatists was unpopular in Chechnya, that press freedoms in Russia were under threat and that his wife had adopted a low public profile.
 &quot;These questions reflect how a significant number of people in the West do not understand what is happening in the Caucasus, especially in Chechnya,&quot; Putin said in response to a Danish woman's comment that Russia used &quot;cruel methods&quot; in Chechnya.
 He parried the BBC journalist's assertion that the military campaign had failed to win over Chechen public opinion.
 &quot;Many people look at it negatively, many positively. We believe the Russian army's actions are aimed at liberating the Chechen people from the terrorists who had seized power there.&quot;
 Putin pledged to work to raise living standards and said there should be no doubt about his commitment to protect democracy and market reforms.
 &quot;I am sure the state does not have an alternative to democratic development and market economy,&quot; he said.
 &quot;As long as I remain head of state, we will adhere to democratic principles of development, we will develop the political structure of society and will develop civil society.&quot;
 He dismissed concerns from a U.S. user that the Kremlin was trying to &quot;suppress reasonable criticism&quot; - an allusion to moves against Media-MOST's Vladimir Gusinsky, now facing extradition from Spain. Liberals see this as a test of Putin's commitment to a free press. 
 He vowed press freedoms would be observed, but said obliquely that business interests that had acquired industries or media outlets on shaky grounds would be obliged to obey laws.
 &quot;Perhaps some don't like the fact that we are trying to establish order so that everyone lives by the law,&quot; he said.
 &quot;I suspect that some people want to live according to the old rules and fish in murky waters. This will not happen. Nor will there be the destruction of democratic institutions.&quot;
 Putin praised the Internet while fielding some of the 16,000 questions submitted to the BBC and Web services Gazeta.ru. Putin repeated Russia's long-standing opposition to a proposed U.S. national missile defense system but said Moscow had &quot;no intention of issuing ultimatums to anyone.&quot; If Washington withdraws from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty to build the shield, it would &quot;create legal consequences over which Russia has no control,&quot; he said.
 But he said he believed it would be no more difficult to establish good relations with President George W. Bush, a big supporter of the missile shield, than with Bill Clinton.
 Putin said he enjoyed light classical music, particularly composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and had read Russian classics widely, in addition to Jules Verne and Alexandre Dumas.
 But the president found himself on the defensive over what a St. Petersburg user said was the &quot;patriarchal&quot; way in which his wife, Lyudmila, was absent from many public appearances and trips - unlike her predecessors Raisa Gorbachev and Naina Yeltsin.
 &quot;This is just the way we operate, whether you like it or not. The people elected me, not my wife,&quot; he said. &quot;I cannot issue instructions. Our relationship is such that if I started to do that the result would be quite the opposite. She carries herself in the way she feels is necessary.&quot;

TITLE: Party Set To Follow Unity's Lead
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A new political movement which claims a close relationship with the Kremlin party of power has sprung up on the political landscape with the support of Sergei Mironov, vice-speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
 The party, which is to be registered as Volya Peterburga<i>, </i>or Petersburg's Will, claims to be close to president Vladimir Putin, saying that it will become as heavy a presence as the Kremlin's Yedinstvo, or Unity, and will, in the words of its founder Mironov, &quot;unite all of St. Petersburg's citizens&quot; under the rallying call of science and culture. 
 These could prove to be lofty ambitions, indeed, for a party that currently claims 300 local members, compared to Unity's local count of 4,000, and whose most visible political act yet has been to present a statue of a bear - the symbol of the Unity party - to a city playground on Ulitsa Marata. 
 Ironically, the bear statue could be a good sign for the Unity party to have, as the symbol of Petersburg's Will is a lion. 
 But Mironov - who campaigned hard locally for Putin during the 2000 presidential elections, and claims a close relationship with the president - has high hopes for Petersburg's Will, and is looking forward to a cooperative, rather than competitive, relationship with the much more mighty Unity party, which currently holds seven seats in the 50 member Legislative assembly. 
 Mironov's party, Zakonnost, or Legality, which will re-register shortly as Petersburg's Will, holds five.
 &quot;We'll definitely go into power and we will cooperate with Unity,&quot; said Mironov in an interview Wednesday.
 During Putin's presidential campaign, Unity emerged out of the blue on the national political scene as the new so-called party of power. As Putin went on to a first-round victory against his opponents, Unity swept full force into the Duma, gaining the second highest number of seats behind the Communists. But unlike its other counterparts in the Duma, Unity espoused no other ideology beyond a dogged loyalty to the president. 
 Unity is even throwing its weight behind the scheduled March 14 no-confidence vote on Putin's cabinet - a move many analysts see as an attempt by the Kremlin to fill the Duma with more Unity loyalists. This is possible under Russian law, which stipulates that if a no confidence vote is passed in the Duma twice within three months, the president must either fire the cabinet or disband the parliament and hold new elections.
 With parties emerging like Petersburg's Will, which so closely mirror Unity, such a gamble on the part of the Kremlin gamble could pay off. 
 During the Duma elections last year, St. Petersburg Unity picked up a little more than 17 percent of St. Petersburg voters, with the Union of Right forces, or SPS - described by many at the time as Unity's youth branch - a very close local second. In September last year, Unity's success was repeated in the city Legislative Assembly, as lawmakers clambered to sign up with the party.
 Viktor Yurakov, the deputy chairman of the St. Petersburg Unity party organization, said it was as yet unknown whether the local branch of Unity would support the proposed no confidence vote.
 Analysts and lawmakers, however, cast a jaded eye on the new Petersburg's Will party, suggesting it was a safety net for Unity - something the party, which has 4,000 members locally, does not need. 
 &quot;[Unity has] the strongest positions in the Legislative Assembly at the moment and I don't take seriously Petersburg's Will's intention to play on our field,&quot; said Viktor Yevtukhov, the Legislative Assembly lawmaker, in a telephone interview Tuesday.
 &quot;They may even become a part of Unity at some point.&quot; 
 Yevtukhov said Unity was only going to get stronger prior to next year's Legislative Assembly elections. 
 &quot;I can say that at least five other lawmakers told us their wish to become a member of Unity faction,&quot; Yevtukhov said. &quot;And this is because the Legislative Assembly elections are soon - and they want to be reelected.&quot;
 Andrei Ryabov, a political analyst with the Moscow-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Petersburg's Will would not be able to gain a foot-hold against the consolidated bulk of Unity. 
 &quot;It is impossible to compete with Unity on its political base,&quot; he said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
 &quot;This looks more like a party created just in case - to replace Unity if it doesn't live up to its expectations.&quot; 
 However, he added that in such an eventuality, it would not be up to the St. Petersburg Legislative assembly to float an alternative. 
 &quot; I think [the Petersburg's Will] will remain in limbo until the Kremlin decides that Unity should be replaced by some other party,&quot; he said.

TITLE: Avalanche Traps Hundreds in Siberia
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - An avalanche trapped about 200 people in vehicles on a Siberian highway and at least two people died from carbon monoxide poisoning in their truck, officials said Wednesday. 
 One woman in the snowbound truck was rescued and was in serious condition in a hospital, said Irina Andriyanova, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. 
 Officials said more victims might be found in buried vehicles as road crews clear the highway, the Interfax news agency reported. 
 About 50 cars and four passenger buses were stuck along a 5-kilometer stretch of highway in the Yermakov district, about 3,300 kilometers east of Moscow. By late Wednesday, most motorists had been evacuated from the road to nearby villages, Interfax said. 
 Record snowfalls have hit Moscow and other Russian regions over the past month. Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East remained heaped with snow and without electricity in about a dozen towns Wednesday after days of snow shut down airport and ferry services and killed at least two people.

TITLE: Yukos Overcoming Technical Difficulties at Long-Idle Field
AUTHOR: By Anna Raff
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: KHANTY-MANSIISK, Western Siberia - Under frequent blizzards and subzero temperatures, the brigade at oil well No. 207 has been pounding at the underlying subsoil and rock for 22 days.
 They are four days from hitting oil.
 Here, at the Priobskoye oil field - one of the largest left to be developed in western Siberia - they work 11-hour shifts in bright orange thermal suits, like astronauts on a harsh lunar landscape. They watch to make sure everything happens smoothly and that the drill bit continues funneling through the ground for oil.
 &quot;It's cold,&quot; mumbles one brigade member as he watches mud splash out from the well. &quot;But you get used to it.&quot;
 Priobskoye - known as the &quot;pearl of Siberia&quot; - is being developed by Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos' largest exploration and production unit, and has proven reserves of 4.1 billion barrels. Full-scale exploitation has yet to begin, and Yuganskneftegaz officials estimated that Priobskoye, which now accounts for 10 percent of their production, will provide 34 percent of their oil in 2005.
 Development plans call for $1.6 billion in capital investments over the next five years.
 The field is located in a swampy area along the left and right banks of the Ob River, 100 kilometers from Nefteyugansk, the &quot;capital&quot; of Russia's second-largest oil producer and site of numerous mafia-related contract killings throughout the 1990s.
 But those days, Yukos officials say, are now over, and attention and energy has now turned back toward the reason behind Nefteyugansk's existence: oil.
 &quot;We're now reinforcing our workforce and are in the process of sharply increasing our activity,&quot; said Sergei Obushov, the oil field &quot;boss.&quot;
 After the Urals oil rush of the 1950s, Soviet geologists were drawn westward toward what is now called the Khanty-Mansiisk autonomous region. The first exploration well on Priobskoye was drilled in 1969 and the only thing that came out of it was water.
 After that unsuccessful attempt, the geologists didn't bother to come back to drill a second well, and the field lay idle for more than a decade. However, in 1982, Yuganskneftegaz hit oil with well No. 151 and production began. Production levels remained shaky until 1999, when the Yuganskneftegaz began to see steady increases after large investments.
 Extraction was at a low in 1998 with 188.7 million barrels but increased 17 percent to 221.1 million barrels last year.
 The field is actually divided into the Northern Licensed Territory, which is leased by Yukos from the government, and the Southern Licensed Territory, which is currently being jointly developed by Sibneft and Britain-based Sibir Energy.
 &quot;It's comparable to the legendary Samotlor field,&quot; said Rady Razyapov, deputy head geologist at Yuganskneftegaz, alluding to Tyumen Oil Co.'s field, also in western Siberia. &quot;And we've hardly touched it.&quot;
 As one of the top 10 undeveloped fields in Russia, Priobskoye is a key factor in Yukos' future growth, said Leonid Mirzoyan, an oil analyst with Deutsche Bank.
 But it's not going to be easy.
 For one, the reservoirs are &quot;low-permeable,&quot; meaning that oil flow is slowed by the consistency of the rock layers.
 &quot;Therefore, development requires state-of-the-art techniques in terms of drilling,&quot; Mirzoyan said. &quot;Second, it's in an environmentally sensitive zone. In the spring, the area is entirely covered with water.&quot;
 One method being used to deal with the problem is hydrofracturing, which creates fissures in rock, letting the oil flow with less impediment. This can triple the amount of oil recoverable from the well, said Steve Schwin, who heads oil field services in western Siberia for Schlumberger.
 But no amount of technology can make life on the Priobskoye base - and that of the 250 men who work there - any easier.
 Those directly involved with the drilling work spend one week on the base and then spend a week at home. They live in a two-story dormitory with a view out on the frozen Ob, and beyond that, kilometers and kilometers of white.
 But the brigade members at well No. 207 had no complaints.
 &quot;I make enough,&quot; one said, declining to reveal his exact monthly wage. &quot;It's enough for me to support my wife and children comfortably.&quot;

TITLE: Yandex Wins Big At Intel Ceremony
AUTHOR: By Andrew Boag
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW - The stars were out and not in small numbers at the Intel Russian Internet Awards held at Moscow's Gorky Art Theater last week, with guest presenters including Russian television celebrities Dmitry Dibrov and Lev Novozhyonov.
 The nominees were selected by submissions made to the Russian Internet Academy, a body of academics and Internet professionals.
 Yandex (www.yandex.ru) made frequent trips to the podium, taking five prizes: the best search engine and catalogue of goods and services, the award for online services, the press prize, the '&quot;Web Chooses You&quot; award - decided by visitors to the ceremony's site (www.nagrada.ru) - and the Grand Prix of the Russian Internet. In addition, Yandex general director Arkady Volozh was named RuNet's man of the year.
 The information and sociopolitical category was taken by Gazeta.ru (www.gazeta.ru), a site that claims its news is so fresh that if it were on paper, the ink would always be wet.
 Ekho Moskvy (www.echo.msk. ru) won for covering traditional news on the Internet, and its popular program EkhoNet (www. echonet.ru) took the award for reporting Internet news.
 In a nod at concerns over keeping the Russian language &quot;clean&quot; and correctly spoken, the Russian Language Information Portal (www.gramota.ru) took the education and science award.
 Russia's great architects were given a pat on the back when the Architecture of Russia Web site (www.archi.ru) took the art and museums award.
 The prestigious literature category was awarded to the Russian Reading Circle Magazine (www.russ.ru/krug).
 The online art award, dedicated to Internet-orientated projects by a single artist, went to Darya Tchuzhbina's site (dasha. paragraph.ru).
 The Russian Internet Academy created the children and youth category to encourage the development of sites for children. The Virtual Kids Children's Portal (www.vkids.ru) took the prize for its simple, user-friendly design and relevant, well-organized content.
 Popular site Zvuki.ru (www. zvuki.ru) was the music victor. Although other online music sites have seen a good deal of publicity in recent months, Zvuki.ru claims to be the largest legal music encyclopedia in Eastern Europe.
 The development of Russian e-commerce has been inhibited by the distrust of the banking system and an affinity for making payments in cash. It was, therefore, encouraging to see high-quality players in the e-commerce category. Internet bookstore OZON (www.ozon.ru) walked away with the trophy.

TITLE: City Steps In To Stop Heat Cut
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The city's finance committee averted a reduction in heating supply to St. Petersburg residents on Saturday with a last-minute agreement to guarantee a 180 million-ruble ($6.3 million) credit from BaltUneximbank to St. Petersburg Fuel and Energy Complex (TEK SPb).
 The credit was to be used by TEK SPb, the city-budget funded company responsible for providing heat and electricity to the city's homes and businesses, to pay off part of its debts to regional energy utility Lenenergo, which had threatened on Friday to reduce its energy supply on Saturday at 6 p.m. if no action had been taken.
 A press release issued by Lenenergo last Friday said that TEK SPb owed it 270 million rubles (about $9.4 million) in payments for energy provided in the past, and that Lenenergo needed this money in order to make its own payments to Peterburgregiongaz, a daughter company of Gazprom, the state national gas monopoly.
 &quot;Because Peterburgregiongaz did not receive these funds, it lowered the amount of gas supplied to Lenenergo from 20 million to 14.8 million cubic meters per day,&quot; the company said. &quot;In this, the peak heating season, the company needs this gas.&quot;
 &quot;In order to continue supplying energy to our other clients in St. Petersburg, Lenenergo deemed it necessary to lower the heat energy provided by its own stations to 65 degrees Celsius and to cut the electricity supply to TEK SPb heating stations at 6 p.m. Saturday.&quot;
 Russian regulations require that heat transfers from utilities to homes must stay at or above 65 degrees during the winter, although the level of heat transfer is usually much lower by the time it actually reaches homes and businesses.
 The threat by Lenenergo is the latest move in an ongoing campaign begun last August by the utility, following the lead of its parent Russian energy monopoly Unified Energy Systems (UES), to collect from delinquent customers.
 &quot;In not paying for the energy we provide, these companies are basically deciding not to buy the energy,&quot; Andrey Likhachev, general director of Lenenergo said, at a Tuesday press conference. &quot;For the same reason we've had to lower the energy supplied to municipal companies in the Leningrad Oblast.&quot;
 As a result of the cut in its gas supply, Likhachev said that Lenenergo had to buy 100 million kilowatt-hours of power from the Federal Wholesale Market for Electricity (FOREM). According to Likhachev the company will also apply for extra electricity at the next sale, which will be held Sunday. 
 Likhachev said that the total debts of the Leningrad Oblast's energy retailers to Lenenergo are more than 500 million rubles (about $17.4 million).
 &quot;After meeting with the heads of the regional administrations of the oblast, it became clear to us that they have not made provisions in their budgets to provide for full payment of their energy costs,&quot; Likhachev said. &quot;And they've made no provisions to cover their standing debts to us.&quot;
 On Monday Lenenergo also began cutting off the electricity supply to three regional retailers for 2 hours a day. The three companies which operate in Podporozshye, Tikhvin and Boksitogorsk (2.9 million rubles) were not Lenenergo's biggest debtors. Podporozshye presently owes 4.3 million rubles ($150,000), Tikhvin 3.6 million rubles ($125,000) and Boksitogorsk 2.9 million rubles ($100,000), while other firms owe more, such as Vyborg electricity system (about 21 million rubles) and Tosno electricity system (12.3 million rubles).
 &quot;The average debt for the regional companies is 6-7 million rubles,&quot; Likhachev said. &quot;There's no big difference between these companies, as they are all debtors.&quot;
 &quot;The regional retailers know that we won't cut off medical facilities, schools and other social units, and they use this knowledge to keep themselves from being cut off.&quot;
 According to Likhachev, about 90 percent of Lenoblast citizens pay for their electricity and heat to the regional retailers. But he said that no one knows where this money goes.
 Regional administration representatives, however, say there is yet another side to the story.
 &quot;Lenenergo has begun cutting off the city for several hours a day but the administration has been covering our part of the payments,&quot; Alexander Mateyev, assistant to the head of the Boksitogorsk administration, said in telephone interview on Wednesday. &quot;The problem is Teplovodokanal, the local energy retailer, and other budget-financed debtors in our region who say they have no money.&quot;
 &quot;A significant part of the debt is due by federally financed institutions, like prisons and hospitals,&quot; Oleg Tsoi, head of operations for the Vyborg administration said Wednesday. &quot;But we've been doing all we can to pay the debt off over time.&quot;
 &quot;Another reason is that the regional administrations are more likely to pay the salaries of the workers at budget financed organizations first and put off electricity bills till later,&quot; he added. &quot;It's probably not the best policy, but we should still find a way to deal with the problem without court cases and cutoffs.&quot;

TITLE: Sweden Seeing Progress in Paris-Club Debt Payments
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Russia has made debt payments to Sweden due by the end of February and to some other European Union countries as well, a Swedish official said Tuesday.
 Stefan Noreen, the Swedish government's top official dealing with Russian affairs, told Reuters he was sure Moscow had paid all outstanding debts to Sweden.
 &quot;Whether all other EU countries have the same picture I don't know, but the signals are positive. The information I have indicates that Russia has fulfilled its payments also to several other EU countries,&quot; he said.
 Noreen said he was referring to Russia's debt obligations to members of the so-called Paris Club of Western government creditors.
 Russia said last month it would pay the roughly $3.8 billion it owes the Paris Club nations in 2001 rather than try to restructure the payments, prompting credit rating agency Standard & Poor's to raise its ratings on Russian state bonds.
 &quot;This is an important signal because unless Russia stands by its international payment obligations, the confidence in the Russian government's ability will dwindle,&quot; Noreen said.
 &quot;It is possible that this can lead to one or more new projects. If one pays off old loans, it facilitates the possibilities of getting new ones,&quot; he said.
 Sweden holds the rotating EU presidency in the first half of 2001. Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet EU heads of state and government in Stockholm on March 23 in connection with the bloc's two-day employment summit.
 Sweden has made EU-Russian relations one of the focal points of its presidency and will arrange a special EU-Russia summit in Moscow May 17.
 &quot;We have told the Russians that for [the EU] to move forward and come in and finance environmental projects, Russia must make its payments in full and on time, otherwise there can be no prospects of further efforts on our behalf,&quot; Noreen said.
 He said he was not aware of any outstanding Russian debt arrears to Sweden from January.
 Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin was quoted as saying on Friday that Moscow planned to pay within a month half of the principal $298 million, due in January.

TITLE: Financial Crisis Key to New Life at Steel Plant
AUTHOR: By Igor Semenenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Just three years ago, it looked like a basket case doomed to failure no matter what it did.
 But then the ruble crashed and gave the Asha Steel Factory a second chance.
 &quot;We reviewed our strategy after the 1998 devaluation,&quot; said Alexander Moiseyev, technical director with Asha Steel Factory, or AMET, which is located in the southern Urals between Chelyabinsk and Ufa. &quot;Profit margins widened, allowing us to reinvest our profits in upgrading.&quot;
 In 1998, the plant's managers were considering the closure of its open-hearth furnace workshop, which made up some 80 percent of the plant's business.
 &quot;Analysis made by the factory managers and consultants that worked within the framework of the Tacis program brought AMET to the conclusion that the open-hearth furnace and casting workshop ... should be closed down,&quot; said the Tacis brochure, titled &quot;Ten Case Studies on Corporate Restructuring,&quot; published in 1999.
 Tacis is the European Union's technical assistance program to the Commonwealth of Independent States.
 The closure of the open-hearth furnace would have still been painful, even though alternative scenarios for employing laid-off workers through developing non-core businesses and business incubators - a scheme successfully tested in Western Europe - were offered.
 Closing the workshop would have been a disaster for the whole town, because the factory employs more than 4,000 people, about 40 percent of Asha's labor force and 10 percent of its total population.
 Asha's fortunes suddenly changed in the wake of the '98 financial crisis, when industrial output made a comeback.
 Production at Asha has since surged 69 percent from a low of 231,000 tons in 1998 to 390,000 tons in 2000, and it is expected to grow another 15 percent this year.
 Now the company is enjoying windfall profits and managers are optimistic that the company can keep its furnace running another 10 to 15 years.
 In a sense, keeping the antiquated workshop is even better for the company than the alternative: a costly oxygen-conversion system that eats up a lot of electricity and works only with metals of quality higher than Asha is currently using, Moiseyev said.
 &quot;But the main reason, of course, is that oxygen converters are costly,&quot; said Moiseyev.
 Oxygen converters are the most popular steel-producing technology used around the world, while open-hearth furnaces are not used at all in developed countries and remain only in places like China, India and Russia, where they account for one-third of production.
 But to build an oxygen converter with a productivity of, for example, 800,000 tons, AMET would have to spend some $50 million to $60 million - a financial impossibility considering that the company's total revenues last year were estimated to be $60 million.
 Although AMET's managers refused to close the furnace, they were galvanized into action by Tacis' gloomy prediction.
 &quot;The main conclusion was that if they sat on their hands, their business would slowly die,&quot; said Gennady Polonsky, a consultant with IMC Consulting Ltd., which is involved in Tacis' Enterprise Restructuring Facility.
 So instead of buying an oxygen converter, AMET decided to upgrade its existing facility, increase productivity and cut costs, install a power-generating unit and set up a casting unit that reduces waste in the production process.
 Factory managers also went to Liepaja, Latvia, where the Soviet Union's most modern open-hearth furnace continues to work, and came to the conclusion that a few simple upgrades would allow them to keep the company going for some time.
 &quot;Electricity is more of a concern than steel production itself at this stage,&quot; says Moiseyev.
 Asha bought 100 million rubles ($3.5 million) worth of new equipment that allows it to recycle the heat and gases generated from its open-hearth furnace to generate power. As a result, the company produces more than half of its own energy requirements.
 It plans to spend another 260 million rubles this year on upgrades.
 Last week, rumors spread that a controlling stake in AMET was bought by outside shareholders, but company managers denied it, insisting that they had no intention of selling.
 &quot;Such rumors spread every time before the annual shareholder meeting,&quot; said Moiseyev. &quot;We are one of the few working factories that remains independent.&quot;

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Transaero-China Deal
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Private airline Transaero and China Airlines will begin jointly operating a Moscow-Taipei route in October, Transaero said Tuesday.
 Flights will be performed once a week and will carry between 120 and 170 passengers, Transaero chairman Alexander Pleshakov said.
 "By the summer season [of 2002] we plan to bring the number of passengers up to between 400 and 450," he said, adding that Transaero plans to use A-310 aircraft on the route.
 Separately, Taiwan airline EVA Air last week began flying over Russian territory three times a week on flights to Paris, which will generate between $4 million and $5 million in air navigation and overflight fees.
 The navigation fees will go to air traffic controllers and the overflight fees will go to Transaero, the official Russian carrier to Taiwan.
 Transaero is just the second airline after Aeroflot to receive such fees from foreign airlines.
 EVA Air is the first Taiwan carrier to fly over Russian territory.
 
 
Turkmen Gas Supplies
 

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) - Turkmenistan has begun supplying natural gas to Russia for the first time this year under a $400 million contract signed last month, a government spokesperson said Tuesday.
 Turkmenistan suspended shipments Dec. 31 after officials were unable to agree on a price. Then the Russian gas company Itera agreed in February to buy 10 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan at a price of $40 per 1,000 cubic meters, above the $36 to $38 Russia paid last year.
 Half the payment is in cash, half in barter. Supplies resumed this week.
 Russia has bolstered its own gas exports to Europe with Turkmenistan's deliveries, as Russia's own gas production has declined after a decade of low investment. Russia effectively controls Turkmenistan's export routes.
 
 
Sukhoi Offer to Hanoi
 

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) - Aircraft builder Sukhoi says it wants to offer a new jet fighter model to Vietnam and is considering setting up a Southeast Asia maintenance center in the country, Vietnam's state media reported Monday.
 Mikhail Pogosyan, general director of Sukhoi, was quoted by the Lao Dong newspaper as saying Sukhoi had a history of cooperation with Vietnam's airforce, which has been using Su-27 jet fighters.
 "We want to introduce Vietnam to our new aircraft, the Su-30 MK," Pogosyan told the paper during a visit to Vietnam by President Vladimir Putin that ended Friday.
 
 
MCC To Try CDMA
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Moving a step closer towards digitalizing its network, mobile operator Moscow Cellular Communications received permission last week from the State Frequency Committee to set up test operations on the CDMA 450 megahertz bandwidth, the company announced.
 CDMA, which stands for Code Division Multiple Access, is a U.S.-based standard. Russia regulators have generally favored the European-based GSM standard.
 The go ahead from the government lets the NMT-450 cellular operator experiment on the CDMA-based IMT-MC standard.
 NMT is an outdated first-generation analog standard and MCC has been looking for ways to digitalize to compete with Vimpelcom and Mobile TeleSystems. The operator planned last year to migrate to the GSM 400/1800 standard, but had to change its strategy when equipment suppliers Nokia and Ericsson pulled out of supporting that spectrum.
 
 
Iraqi Oil Contracts 
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Iraq threatened Sunday to terminate contracts that had been signed with Russian and Chinese oil firms to develop the country's southern oil fields, but had not been fulfilled, Agence France Presse reported Monday.
 "The contracts have been signed to be carried out, and any contract that has not been honored will be terminated," Iraq's deputy oil minister Faiz Shahin warned in the weekly Al-Nassiriya newspaper.
 In 1997, LUKoil and two other Russian firms, Zarubezhneft and Ma shino import, signed an accord with Iraq's oil ministry on developing Iraq's West Qurna oil field.
 However, LUKoil has been able to carry out only a limited amount of work in Iraq, with the UN-imposed sanctions crippling Iraq's oil industry. 



TITLE: U.S. Policy in Mideast Must Be Even-Handed
AUTHOR: By Mohammed Abdallah
TEXT: WHETHER one likes it or not, Palestinians and Arab nations at large see both the Palestinian cause and the suffering of the Iraqi people as interwoven and inseparable. This might explain the lukewarm - or even slightly hostile - reception that met U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during his recent visit to the Middle East. It was clear that the administration of President Bush might be highly influenced by the policy of his father on Iraq.
 A real perplexity is emerging over the weird combination of a vague American readiness to revive the &quot;clinically dead&quot; Palestinian-Israeli peace process on the one hand and the saber-rattling over the Iraqi &quot;no-fly&quot; zones on the other. There is some degree of conviction here that the United States has been principally concerned all along with its own interests in addition to so-called &quot;Israeli security.&quot; 
 This is a tightrope policy, because American interests in the Arab world can never be safeguarded when the United States turns a blind eye to Palestinian suffering and tacitly approves Israeli atrocities. Israel might be the most established democracy in the Middle East, but it has not behaved as such in its treatment of the Palestinians, whose lands have been occupied for more than 33 years. Every day, Palestinian lands are expropriated to build Jewish settlements and construct bypass roads, their houses are demolished, and they are deprived of their basic human rights. Yet some foreign powers - dazzled by the Israeli &quot;democratic&quot; propaganda- ignore the Palestinian plight. 
 On the other side of the equation, nobody can deny the despotic nature of the Iraqi regime. Yet it is for the Iraqi people themselves to decide their destiny and to change the situation should they so opt for a change. 
 A decade after the Persian Gulf War - in which Powell was an active military participant - he visits a region still affected with the tremors from that war. What makes matters worse is the Israeli connection. To the Arabs, Ariel Sharon and President Bush are coordinating their efforts to contain not only the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction but Palestinian national aspirations as well. 
 A more moderate U.S. policy toward Iraq - one that takes into account the suffering of the Iraqi people, together with rehabilitating their country for re-entry into the international community - could have a far-reaching impact on the Arab world's image of the United States. The Palestinians and Arab masses need to be convinced that the United States can be an evenhanded peace-broker. There is no place for more frustrations; a disastrous situation is deteriorating very quickly.
 
 <i>Mohammed Abdallah is the political editor of the newspaper Al Quds. He contributed this comment to The Los Angeles Times. </i>

TITLE: North Korea Gets Reality TV
AUTHOR: By Russell Working
TEXT: DANDONG, China - For most of the day - presumably when there is no power to spare in electricity-starved North Korea - there is nothing to see on DPRK-TV. No reruns, no test patterns, nothing but static.
 Then in the late afternoon, the viewer flips on channel 22 to find the camera panning a hall full of teenagers in dark suits or traditional Korean dresses. Iron-faced, they watch a ceremony in which the winners are called forward to pick up awards. Half of them will take home red banners extolling the leader-god Kim Jong-il. The rest win red accordions. And so begins another evening's entertainment in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
 The Hermit Kingdom is one of the most secretive nations on earth, banning most foreign visitors, eschewing contact with the outside world, and nailing itself inside a coffin of famine and repression. But every evening here in Dandong, a port city of 700,000 on the Yalu River separating China and North Korea, a closed society reveals a little more than it may realize to outsiders who flip on DPRK-TV. You don't have to speak Korean to come away a little spooked by the viewing experience.
 North Korea feels close in Dandong, and that is not just because you can take a boat tour on the Yalu that surely crosses into North Korean waters as it chugs within 15 meters of the eastern bank, with its rusting patrol boats and empty factories.
 The city boasts dozens of Korean restaurants, and trucks queue up by the Friendship Bridge to carry cargo south across the border: bags of rice, rolls of linoleum, boxes of Tsingdao beer.
 Yet DPRK-TV provides a glimpse of the other side of the river, and given that it is propaganda - presenting an idealized vision of society in what its creators believe are persuasive terms - it is all the more striking.
 Day after day, DPRK-TV devotes hours of airtime to Kim's tours of factories, and some of the footage dates back to 1989. A narrator with the voice of a castrato speaks in trilling, almost hysterical tones as Kim makes his rounds. North Korea's &quot;dear leader&quot; is a corpulent man with a sallow face, wearing a Mao suit and dark glasses, even indoors. The people he meets bow from the waist. Crowds make fist-clenching salutes and beat their chests, or they wave both hands in the air, jumping as if in ecstasy, like toy poodles whose master has returned home after an absence. Kim's mind evidently is untroubled by mere curiosity. He never seems to ask a question; rather, he lectures the experts. He snatches pointers to jab at wall maps or diagrams. Oddly, his voice is never audible - only the narrator's.
 In one recent clip, Kim tours a facility that produces syringes. Do the broadcasters even notice that the managers are wearing coats and astrakhan hats indoors? Or perhaps the filmmakers count on North Koreans - millions of whom live and work in unheated quarters - to consider such details unremarkable.
 There are moments of near hilarity, such as when Kim tours a collective farm populated with ostriches. Ostriches in North Korea? And yet there they are, 2-meter-tall birds that twirl and flap, moving Kim, it appears, to offer tips on applying Marxist precepts to the breeding of flightless African birds.
 There is also some literary content: static shots of the day's newspapers, page by page (the type is too small to read). And children's programming appears in the form of a cartoon in which a boy hero is captured by the Japanese, beaten unconscious and bound with a stick jammed in his mouth to prevent him from screaming for help.
 Strangest of all, however, is the North Korean idealization of labor - perhaps even slave labor. While the narrator enthuses, thousands of workers strap boulders to their backs and run - run! - to a dam, where they thump down the rocks and sprint back to the beginning for yet another load. In close-ups, the workers' faces are frozen in rictal grins, but their eyes reveal a leaden terror. It is as if Stalin thought that broadcasting the construction of the Baltic-White Sea Canal by gulag laborers would inspire his countrymen.
 In fact, much of DPRK-TV might feel familiar to Russians of Stalin's generation: parades of tanks, goose-stepping soldiers, Soviet-style choruses. But if DPRK-TV offers a nation's most grandiose boasts, consider what its darkest secrets might look like.
 
 <i>Russell Working is a freelance journalist based in Vladivostok. </i>

TITLE: Confusion Reigns in the Funding Saga
TEXT: THE Legislative Assembly is extremely confused. City Hall unexpectedly froze lawmakers' discretionary funds late last month, and then announced that a number of deputies should have the way in which they are allocating their funds reanalyzed by the City Finance Committee, to see whether or not the money is being used in appropriate ways.
 This was surprising enough, but it is not what is really bothering the assembly. The remarkable aspect of the whole business is rather that a special list has been drawn up of lawmakers who are deemed most suspicious in this regard - and most of the names on that list are of deputies who support Governor Vladimir Yakovlev.
 This goes completely against all original prognoses, which forecast trouble for those legislators who are known opponents of City Hall and everything it does. Such conjecture was at least based on precedent: Lawmakers from the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces (SPS) have complained in the past of having the financing of their personal funds delayed, while those loyal to Smolny have been handed large amounts of money to get on with whatever project they want.
 Now that everything is the other way around, members of the St. Petersburg parliament are racking their brains to find an explanation. &quot;I just can't think of a rational answer,&quot; said Yabloko faction leader Mikhail Amosov this week, shaking his head. Amosov himself had a few thousand rubles taken from his fund, meaning that he has had to put that new car for police station No. 62 on hold, and freeze a project to renovate a sports ground for the Technological University.
 But such losses don't compare to those of Igor Rimmer, a deputy who has backed the governor in many of the assembly's debates, and whose fund is now short of over three million rubles (about $110,000). Rimmer says that this has put an end to his financing of cheap holidays, and to bread subsidies for the poorer residents of his district. In fact, Rimmer seems to be so disgusted with life at the moment that he has suggested that the Legislative Assembly be disbanded.
 In the meantime, Rimmer is also asking why City Hall is only checking lawmakers' funds and not budget spending in general, and why this is all happening now in any case.
 Smolny is calling the process a routine check, and maintaining that everything would have been fine if the deputies transferred money correctly, i.e., via district administrations (sub-departments of City Hall) instead of (in Rimmer's case) directly to companies that produce cheap bread.
 Why Yakovlev-friendly deputies have suffered more than others is unclear, but the consensus in the assembly is that by meddling with the discretionary funds, City Hall is trying to find some more cash for its own budget. At the same time, however, even if the administration seized 10 percent of lawmakers' money, it would only gain around 110 million rubles, small beer compared to the total budget revenue figure of over 40 billion rubles forecast for 2001.
 Petty revenge may prove to be the reason for the trouble. Sources in the Legislative Assembly say that the raid on the discretionary funds may have its roots in a series of insignificant squabbles between Smolny's finance chief and the head of the assembly's budget committee. To teach those pesky parliamentarians a lesson, Smolny has taken away their money bags. Petty, but all too believable.

TITLE: Lesin's Right: The News Is Not Funny
TEXT: FOR years now, the saying &quot;if you don't like the news there is, buy some different news&quot; has practically been the motto of post-Soviet Russia - although few self-respecting people have been willing to endorse it aloud. However, Press Minister Mikhail Lesin - seemingly never afraid to risk looking foolish - has now lived up to this creed.
 Disappointed with a recent U.S. State Department report on human rights in Russia that criticized the country's record on the press generally and Lesin's ministry in particular, Lesin told reporters last week that he was writing his own report on press freedom in the United States, and that he plans to commission an advertising campaign in the West to improve Russia's image. 
 &quot;I'm not embarrassed by the word 'propaganda,'&quot; Lesin said. &quot;Otherwise, we seem like bears wandering the streets, growling and constantly trying to shut someone down.&quot;
 Now, we should be clear. There is a reason why people in the West and across Russia think that the Press Ministry is &quot;constantly trying to shut someone down.&quot; Because for the last year, that is exactly what the Russian government has been doing to Media-MOST.
 The world has this impression because less than three weeks ago, Boris Berezovsky, under unclear circumstances, handed over his stake in state-controlled ORT to Kremlin darling Roman Abra mo vich - and now the company's board of directors consists of 11 government officials including Lesin and President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Alexei Gromov.
 And because Russia's press minister &quot;is not embarrassed by the word 'propaganda,'&quot; and is so ursine that he doesn't even try to conceal it. 
 Although Lesin seemed to be completely carried away with himself at the press conference, he nonetheless insisted when reporters laughed at him that &quot;this is not funny at all. This is very serious.&quot;
 Evidently, the minister was serious when he said his seemingly over-funded ministry is considering giving grants to organizations promoting freedom of speech in the United States. This while the disgraced Berezovsky is funding analogous groups in Russia with his dubiously amassed gains. We can be forgiven for having to be reminded that &quot;this is not funny at all.&quot;
 But jokes aside, if the press minister wants good press, let him do something - anything - good for the independent press. If he took even one step to make official information more easily available, to make the government more accountable, to make it safer and easier for journalists to work, then - we promise - we'll be the first ones to applaud.

TITLE: Still a Long Way To Go
AUTHOR: By Martina Vandenberg
TEXT: THEY carried placards. On March 8, 1996, a group of women, clad in black, marched on Pushkin Square. One poster, held by a crisis center volunteer, told a tale in hieroglyphics: One picture labeled &quot;March 7th&quot; showed a woman being beaten. A second drawing, labeled &quot;March 8th,&quot; showed the same woman receiving a bouquet of flowers. And the third picture, labeled &quot;March 9th,&quot; mirrored the March 7th rendition - the woman being beaten again. Not without reason, one 31-year-old schoolteacher and mother of two told a Canadian newspaper, &quot;Women's Day is the most hypocritical holiday ever invented.&quot;
 Indeed, the flowers and perfume cannot mask the bruises. Lyudmila Zavadskaya, formerly a member of the State Duma, has called domestic violence in Russia an &quot;undeclared war against women.&quot; One popular Russian joke goes: &quot;A husband starts to beat his wife. She cries, 'What are you doing that for?' He answers, 'If I could think of a reason, I'd kill you instead.'&quot;
 As Andrei Sinelnikov, a project director at ANNA, the Association No to Violence, has pointed out, some of those husbands keep their deadly promises. Between 12,000 and 16,000 Russian women die each year at the hands of their partners, spouses or relatives. Thousands more face brutal physical assaults in their own homes.
 A UNICEF study published in 1999 stated, &quot;A survey in Moscow showed that more than one in three divorced women had been beaten by their husbands.&quot; The Lana Crisis Center in Nizhny Tagil estimated in 2000 that only 2 percent of women managed to convince police to take their complaints of domestic violence. The government still does not keep statistics. The difficulty convincing police to take reports of domestic violence is only exceeded by the near impossibility of forcing police to file reports for the rape of adult women. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the number of reported rapes has plummeted in Russia from 12,515 in 1995 to 10,888 in 1996. By way of comparison, in 1995, law enforcement agencies recorded 97,464 rapes in the United States. Similarly, convictions for rape in Russia have fallen, from 10,314 in 1995, to just 9,766 in 1999.
 In December 1997, Human Rights Watch published a report titled &quot;Too Little, Too Late&quot; blasting the Russian government for its failure to respond to domestic violence and rape. Sadly, continuing official indifference to both domestic violence and rape have left Russian women at risk and without recourse. Follow-up research indicates that little has changed.
 According to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and local women's rights activists, women still face formidable barriers that prevent justice for violence. The Women's Alliance, a women's crisis center in Siberia, told Human Rights Watch that police officers continue to refuse to take reports in cases of rape and domestic violence. In 18 of 35 cases between May 1999 and May 2000, women who called the crisis center's hot line to report violence against them complained that police had failed to take reports.
 In another six cases, police failed to respond to emergency calls from women being subjected to domestic violence. In one case a police officer told a victim: &quot;I don't see any proof of that. There is no blood, and your arms and legs aren't broken.&quot; Another quipped, &quot;Is he drunk? If not, we're not coming.&quot;
 Despite the grim statistics and the continuing abuse, reflections on how far the women's movement has come provide some perspective. The Domostroi, a guide for pre-revolutionary men, included some advice on beating one's wife: &quot;If your wife does not understand your words, or fails to follow them, you must punish her with a beating.&quot; Beatings of pregnant women, the authors cautioned, should be carried out &quot;... in a careful and intelligent way - do it painfully, fearfully, strongly.&quot;
 In 1991, Russia did not have a single domestic violence or rape crisis center. In 2001, it has more than 50 scattered across the country. Thirty-five of those centers joined ranks in 1999 to create the Russian Association of Crisis Centers for Women. Together, with minimal funding and little or no government support, these crisis centers have opened hot lines, established legal services, trained police and provided psychological counseling to thousands of victims. Most importantly, they have chipped away at society's tolerance of violence against women.
 One recent study indicated that more than 80 percent of women and 63.6 percent of men now believe that violence in the family is a crime. With ongoing anti-violence information campaigns around the country, the trend should continue downward. The leaders of the women's human rights movement - women such as Marina Pisklakova, Yelena Yershova and Valentina Konstantinova - have begun the climb out of the rubble.
 
 <i>Martina Vandenberg, an attorney, is the Europe researcher for the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. She contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times. </i>

TITLE: U.S. Intelligence Services: Masters of the Art of Blaming Everybody Else
AUTHOR: By Reuben Johnson
TEXT: SEVEN years ago a CIA officer working in the elite Directorate of Operations named Aldrich Ames was arrested for having passed some of America's most vital secrets to the First Directorate of the Soviet Union's KGB and later to its successor, the Foreign Intelligence Service. As a result of this betrayal, the majority of Russian agents working for the CIA and FBI were arrested and almost all of them executed. In addition, other programs and national technical means were compromised - damage that continues to frustrate U.S. early warning systems and intelligence collection efforts abroad today.
 As America's primary domestic counterintelligence service, the FBI reacted to the damage done by Ames with a &quot;we tried to tell you so&quot; demeanor. After his arrest, FBI sources lamented to reporters on background that one of the reasons that Ames had been able to operate for such a long time without suspicion was the traditional reluctance by the CIA to believe that a human penetration could be responsible for these losses. Agency officials reportedly insisted on eliminating all other possible explanations for this long list of human assets being &quot;rolled up&quot; by the KGB - a hidden microphone, compromised communication codes, etc. - before considering the unthinkable: the possibility that one of their own could be the culprit. The FBI, it was said, had a much more realistic outlook in terms of where human penetration of an intelligence organization can occur.
 It was undoubtedly a sad day of reckoning for the FBI when one of its own, Robert Hanssen - a 25-year veteran of the bureau's counterintelligence division - was arrested on charges of spying for Russia. Over a 15-year period - seven years longer than Ames - Hanssen is alleged to have passed thousands of pages of classified documents and a number of computer disks to his Russian handlers.
 Over the past 20 years, there have been a number of cases in which U.S. government employees have been caught spying, each incident seemingly more damaging than the previous one. More damaging, I say, because there appears to be no learning curve created by these events and no sense that the proper steps are being taken in response. Each time a major U.S. spy scandal erupts, the usual tried-and-failed bureaucratic solutions are trotted out - give more polygraph tests, eliminate the number of security clearances handed out - but no one wants to get at the root problems that might really eliminate many of the possibilities for an individual to operate as a mole and remain undetected for years - because addressing them would mean doing some real work.
 As someone who has worked as a defense contractor and consultant for years, I can only marvel at the yawning chasm that exists between the cavalier way in which classified documents are handled by U.S. government institutions and the draconian manner in which they are regulated in the private sector. During my first month at one of my first defense contracting jobs, I was told by a co-worker who was also a reserve military intelligence officer that he saw the way classified documents were monitored within the U.S. government as a joke. &quot;The best security you might ever find at most U.S. military installations,&quot; he told me as he shook he head, &quot;would have this company shut down in a day for violations.&quot;
 My colleague's somewhat hyperbolic assessment turned out to be more truth than fiction. Aldrich Ames passed something in the neighborhood of 50,000 documents to his Russian handlers, so naturally he was asked in debriefings after his arrest how he was able to get away with making so many illegal copies of classified documents. The answer, he said, was easy. No one ever asked him why he spent so much time at the copying machine because he had never made any copies. He gave the Russians - or sold, to be more accurate - original classified documents. According to Ames, no one at the CIA ever did anything about classified documents that turned up missing during periodic audits. All missing documents were reportedly just written off with the attitude of &quot;they must be around here somewhere.&quot; When they occur, debriefings of Hanssen will no doubt turn up a similar history of how he was able to squirrel thousands of pages of documents out of his FBI office.
 The contrast between the public and private sectors is beyond belief. At every defense contractor I have ever worked for, if an audit revealed even one or two missing documents, it was treated as a major incident. The person or persons responsible could lose their jobs, and the company could have its authority to hold any classified data revoked. If standards even approaching those that defense contractors live under everyday were the norm within the U.S. government, Ames, Hanssen - and others? - would have never even gotten to first base. But then that would be making the rule makers adhere to their own rules.
 Another major paradox is that, on the surface, it is assumed that intelligence agencies are - above all else - in the people business. Having the people skills to be able to recruit agents or sources is supposed to be a basic requirement for those that work in the field. Internally, having managers and an administration that will boost the morale of employees and make them feel both wanted and useful is critical to eliminating the discontent that prompts people to work for the other side. But here again conventional wisdom is at odds with reality.
 The major intelligence losses of recent years have been prompted more often than not by horrendously bad management. According to the accounts given of the Ames case, when he arrived at the CIA station in Mexico City, the station chief was not around half the time to manage his people because he was making arrangements for his wedding to a Mexican woman half his age. Ames' first lunch out with his agency colleagues became a two-hour drinking bout of rum-and-cokes. Examination of the record reveals that time and time again those who end up turncoats do so out of frustration at not being utilized properly or out of disdain for what they see as the stupidity of the system in which they are forced to operate.
 Whenever agents or intelligence sources start disappearing, there is a tendency to place blame everywhere except where it belongs. The traditional easy out is to chalk up losses to the previous turncoat. Some agents who were compromised by Ames (according to current versions) were originally attributed to Edward Lee Howard, a CIA officer who had been unceremoniously fired and then later came to Moscow (where he still lives today) with what he knew. In the same vein, problems associated with information passed to the Russians by Hanssen were originally assessed as damage from Ames. It should be clear by now that finding a convenient scapegoat is no answer. The system does not place proper value on either how information is handled or on how people are treated. Until both of these gapping shortcomings are addressed, this parade of deep-cover moles within U.S. intelligence is bound to continue unabated.
 
 <i>Reuben Johnson is an aviation and defense technology consultant and the defense correspondent for Aviation International News and the online defense publication Periscope. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times. </i>

TITLE: Mailbox
TEXT: Readers write in on the future of PeterStar, the Eastern and Western character of Russia, a controversial film about a submarine accident and a victory for the Jehovah's Witnesses.
 PeterStar Reborn
 Dear Editor,
 I read with interest the opinion expressed by Anna Shcherbakova [&quot;End of the Road for PeterStar?&quot; Feb. 27]. Everybody has an opinion - here is mine: PeterStar is the biggest alternative business telephony and data service provider in St. Petersburg and will soon be reborn as a large Internet service provider in St. Petersburg.
 Ms. Shcherbokava holds the opinion that &quot;PeterStar ... lost its cellular traffic.&quot; In my opinion, PeterStar 'won' 6 years of cellular traffic as we had the right network in the right place at the right time. But enough about opinions. Let's discuss some facts. 
 PeterStar is licensed to provide fixed-line telephony and data services. The cellular operators are licensed to interconnect to the city network, PTN. As PTN was technically unable to provide this interconnection, PeterStar agreed with PTN and Giprosvyaz to temporarily provide interconnection for the cellular operators. 
 PeterStar has 1,000 kilometers of fiber in St. Petersburg which connects over 8,000 business and over 22,000 residential customers who use over 80,000 telephone lines. Our business customer base has grown 30 percent in 2000 and continues to grow in 2001. 
 PeterStar services are available in over 90 business centers in St. Petersburg. PeterStar has invested over $114 million in St. Petersburg. Recently, PeterStar re-signed our first customer, the Grand Hotel Europe, to an exclusive three-year contract. Additionally, PeterStar has just signed a contract to provide Izhorsky Zavod with a $250,000 DEFINITY PBX and to provide 1,000 phone lines over fiber that will be installed in May. 
 By launching Internet service, PeterStar can now offer our customers a complete solution of telephony, data channels, equipment sales, round-the-clock bilingual operator services, calling cards - in short, a complete telecommunications solution.
 I appreciate that Ms. Shcher ba ko va describes PeterStar as &quot;dominant.&quot; I would describe PeterStar as &quot;competitive.&quot; We compete every day with over 14 other companies who provide telephony services in our fair city. And we compete well, by providing services our customers require.
 I welcome that we share opinions in the press. But I trust facts.
 
 <i>Rick Macy,
 Commercial Director,
 PeterStar Telecommunications
 </i>
 Dear Editor,
 The article of respected Anna Shcher ba kova reflects a curious view of the Peter Star situation, but not the only one. Our point of view at Telecominvest is quite different.
 PeterStar is one of the three largest companies in the Telecominvest Operators Group. The company business is developing intensively.
 Throughout 2000, PeterStar's turnover increased by 18 percent, and its net profit increased by 25 percent. The main business of PeterStar is services for corporate clients. Last year, their number increased by 30 percent. The company's 2001 business plan indicates similar growth. This means that PeterStar shareholders are optimistic about the future of the company.
 In 2001, PeterStar plans to invest $8 million for further development. Do the companies that have no future act like that?
 We think that the facts refute the view of Ms. Shcherbakova. PeterStar has been, and remains, one of the brightest stars in the St. Petersburg telecommunications universe.
 <i>
 Andrei Klimov,
 Public Relations Director,
 Telecominvest
 </i>
 Old Stereotypes
 Dear Editor,
 I was disappointed by Gregory Feifer's comment [&quot;East and West: Face to Face,&quot; March 6] on Anatol Lieven's article on Russophobia. The essence of Lieven's article was not that Russia cannot or should not be criticized by the West - far from it - but the prevalence of double standards in judging Russia's actions, including both recent events and the colonial past. I encounter such prejudices myself everyday in the Western media. 
 Instead of discussing Lieven's arguments and concrete examples, Feifer reverts to the same familiar stereotypes, in fact proving Lieven's point. He invokes such worn-out platitudes as &quot;Russia had no Renaissance. It never experienced Enlightenment.&quot; So what? Neither had countries comprising the bulk of today's global population.
 Feifer's examples are plainly unconvincing. He alleges the &quot;nationalistic furor&quot; over the arrest of Pavel Borodin (and claims that Russian elite demand his release just because he is &quot;one of us&quot;). But what is remarkable about the Borodin affair is actually how discrete and subdued Russian official reaction has been so far, relying on due process and possibly behind-the-scenes negotiations. Such restraint is very unlikely to be reciprocated if a prominent U.S. official were arrested in Moscow. In fact, we witnessed a highly charged reaction in the recent Edmund Pope spying case.
 Before the court ruling, Pope was declared &quot;innocent&quot; by Washington officials. Some congressmen led a campaign for his immediate release based on - guess what - simply that &quot;he is one of us&quot; (meaning a U.S. citizen), despite the overwhelming evidence that he indeed tried to obtain secret Russian military technology illegally, and that his &quot;rare bone cancer&quot; ruse subsequently turned out to be phony after a medical checkup in Germany. 
 Feifer defends such obsessive Russophobes as Zbignew Brzezinski. An example of Brzezinski's attitude and double standards can be seen in his recent Foreign Affairs article where he argues that Russia still needs to &quot;dismantle the empire&quot; and should take a lesson from post-Ottoman Turkey. This has nothing to do with reality and is simply the construction of yet another propagandistic hurdle, which Russia must somehow jump before being treated respectfully by the West.
 In fact, in most regards, Russia in the last decade has made a bigger break with its imperial past than Turkey has done in the 80 years since the Ataturk revolution. Russia fully admitted the wrongs it inflicted on other peoples - from Stalin's deportation of the Chechen and Ingush nations in 1944 to the Katyn massacre and to the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968.
 In contrast, Turkey still has not acknowledged the Armenian genocide or the ethnic cleansing of Greeks and other minorities in 1915-20 or today's repression of its Kurdish minority. Currently dozens of Turkish journalists are in jail on sedition charges for speaking up on Kurdish issues in far milder terms than the criticism of the Chechen campaign freely available every day in the Russian media. 
 Not a single time in the last decade has Russia threatened military action against any country in the region. Turkey, on the other hand, threatened to bomb Cyprus in 1996 over the purchase of a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft system and to invade Syria in 1998 for giving refuge to Abdullah Ocalan and his followers. Turkey's continuing deification of Ataturk reminds me of the Lenin cult of Soviet times - and nothing remotely resembling the current status of any past and present Russian leader.
 The notion that the United States and the West in general are automatically right on all issues simply doesn't hold up. Russians are fully justified in making clear that such attitudes cannot be the foundation of a meaningful, productive relationship.
 
 <i>Kirill Pankratov, Ph.D.,
 Boston, Massachusetts
 </i>
 Dear Editor,</strong>
 I read Gregory Feifer's article with keen interest. The question of whether Russia is part of the West or an outpost of Asia is still unresolved, and I agree with Feifer that the correct answer is that Russia is neither part of Europe nor a part of Asia, but is, in fact, a unique culture unto itself.
 The real question, from my perspective, is the gap that exists between the magnificent culture of imperial times and the strange and sterile culture that came into existence after 1917. Far from perceiving continuity between the Russia of the tsars and the Soviet Union of Lenin, Stalin and the rest, I see as decisive a historical break as ever occurred in human history. For example, I perceive many more elements of historical continuity between the empire of the Aztecs and contemporary Mexico than I do between the brilliant culture of tsarist Russia and the wasteland that existed by the time of Andropov.
 Yes, Boris Yeltsin tried to revive elements of previous Russian glory. And to his eternal credit, Yeltsin understood the cultural treasures to be found in the magnificent pre-1917 Russian civilization. However, it proved impossible to stage a revival. Too much time had passed, too many Russians had been killed, and too many inferior and, yes, ugly architectural monstrosities had been imposed on the Russian landscape during Soviet times.
 When one surveys the strange interlude of 1917-1991, one is struck by how un-Russian the period really was. The Communist diplomats who used to chide Western writers who substituted the word Russian for Soviet were absolutely correct. The early Bolshevik leadership had a well-documented hatred of Russians, and the anti-Russian bias of the post-Stalin ruling class went beyond what is usually mentioned (i.e. mass murder, destruction of old churches, etc.). The leaders of the 1917-1991 interlude could not resist giving the Crimea to Ukraine, and they obviously drew the Kazakh border to the detriment of traditional Russian claims.
 In conclusion, it is a melancholy, but not wholly unexpected reality that President Vladimir Putin favors a return to Soviet ways. A revival of the Romanov glory is simply out of the question at this point. U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell understand this as a given. They will quietly adjust to the new conditions.
 
 <i>John Taylor Sumter,
 South Carolina
 
 </i>Brothers at Arms
 Dear Editor,
 I wanted to convey my good wishes to Capt. Igor Kurdin and others who are dismayed at the portrayal of their actions in the movie being made of the K-19 [&quot;Disputed Submarine Movie Going Ahead&quot; March 2].
 I can sympathize with the feelings, as Hollywood exists only to make money, and with a few very rare exceptions, does not make any significant social statements anymore.
 As I can make no changes there, I would prefer to address Captain Igor Kurdin's statement, &quot;Lots of Americans want to see Russians portrayed the way they are shown in this film. That's why these films are made. But we are concerned about the honor of those who died.&quot;
 I would like to assure him that millions of American's, having an open mind to history, are aware that much bravery, and dedication to duty, in an ordinary man, no matter what flag he bears allegiance to, goes unnoticed by many, but is a measure of that man's honor, that he does these things anyway, for his country, and his people.
 I would like to take the moment to thank him, and his shipmates, for the bravery shown that day, and to tell him that I will honor their sacrifices by not spending one penny to see this movie, and if that helps to assure him that he has been heard, and noticed this day, I have done my small part.
 I know that Russia is populated by people just like me, trying to make a living, worrying about their existence, and wondering if they make a difference.
 You, Captain, have certainly done that.
 
 Joe Redd
 Chicago, Illinois 
 
 Heartfelt Thanks
 Dear Editor,
 I just read about the movie &quot;K-19, The Widowmaker,&quot; which is currently being filmed. I also read the concerns expressed by Captain Kurdin on behalf of Russian submarine veterans about the portrayal of the crew of the K-19. One concern that Kurdin and the veterans had was how they were/are perceived by Americans. Please note that not all Americans will think that the Russian sailors were/are drunkards or incompetant. 
 If it weren't for the brave men of the K-19 crew, I am certain I would not be here today writing this letter. When I think about what could have happened and what did happen, I can't help but realize and be thankful that even though I was not born at the time of the K-19 incident, there were men who gave their lives to avoid a conflict during the heated Cold War between our two countries, thus saving millions of lives on both sides. My prayers and good thoughts go to the families and survivors of the K-19 crew. I thank you for the ultimate sacrafice.
 I would hope that in the near future, an accurate portrayal of the K-19 incident will be made to honor the memory of those who died and those who survived.
 
 Stacy Jo McDermott
 San Francisco, California
 Imagine ...
 Dear Editor, 
 I can't believe that talks go on between the United States and Russia about how powerful one or the other is. 
 It's a real shame that the people of Russia and the people of the United States have to worry about nuclear weapons every day of their lives. 
 Just think if the two could join forces what the world could be like. So many good things could come of it. Our children and our children's children could learn so very much from each other. 
 If only our governments could think about peace instead of about war.
 
 Jerry LaGrone 
 Grand Lake, Oklahoma
 Justice Served
 Dear Editor, 
 How wonderful to see that justice was done in the court case involving the Jehovah's Witnesses [&quot;Jehovah's Witnesses Win Vital Court Case&quot; Feb. 27]. This will be a blessing for this religion's members who will now be able to meet together in freedom as well as to share their beliefs openly with honest-hearted individuals throughout the beautiful city of Moscow. 
 It is certainly a credit to the Russian judicial system that the judge in this case weighed the evidence carefully and issued a decision that reflected her concern for truth and impartiality. This verdict will result in a blessing to the citizens of Moscow.
 
 James St. Amand 
 Asheville, North Carolina
 Altered Reality
 Dear Editor, 
 As a person involved in the process of assisting legal reformin Russia, I think that Justice Dooley's observations are those of a man of wisdom and vision, while Masha Gessen seems to possess tunnel vision topped with myopia.
 
 <i>Vasily Vlasihin
 Moscow </i>

TITLE: exhibition uncovers soviet union's version of femininity
AUTHOR: by Galina Stolyarova
TEXT: A woman with muscles like the hero of a Hollywood action film is about to hit an anvil with a giant hammer. Her twin, holding pincers, is assisting her. The two women, on a 1920 poster at a new exhibition at the Museum of the Political History of Russia, illustrate just what the young Soviet state wanted from its female population.
 Physical and moral strength - such is the harmonious combination that the powerful newborn state encouraged in its women. Marking March 8, International Women's Day, the exhibition comprises several dozen political posters from the '20s to the '80s, targeting women and their place in society.
 Under the Soviet regime the woman's place was no longer in the home. The ideal women of the Soviet state did the hardest work - driving tractors, building houses and operating heavy machinery.
 The exhibition is divided into several parts, showing women as warriors, workers, socially active women and mothers. A special part is devoted to satirical posters mocking vices like illiteracy or smoking. Artistically, the posters vary from plain dull to extremely witty.
 Asexual, ascetic, somewhat masculine images of Soviet women dominate the posters up to the end of the WWII. These poster women can do anything at all, it seems, apart from being attractive.
 But with the war's end, the Soviet Union was facing yet another problem crying for total female mobilization - demography. Affectionate mothers nursing loving children make their first appearances in Soviet political posters. &quot;The state never bothered to know how its women dealt with family life - not until the war took millions of lives,&quot; said Svetlana Khoda kov skaya, one of the exhibition's curators.
 However, if you search the exhibition for a sexually appealing image, the only one you will find is a prostitute from a 1920 poster, complete with a propaganda verse against whoredom and streetwalking.
 &quot;There was a vacuum, and this was what which inspired us to put on this exhibition,&quot; Khodakovskaya said. &quot;Political posters may be heavy with ideology, but today on the streets we are surrounded by nothing but advertising posters, commercial and aggressive, which do not appeal to the soul.&quot;
 What kind of posters are needed now? &quot;I think there should be posters heralding businesswomen, encouraging women to make careers,&quot; Kho dakovskaya said. &quot;Building an impressive career in a patriarchal society like ours takes an enormous effort. And more women should follow this path to break vicious stereotypes. A successful businesswoman should be seen as normal, rather than an extraordinary case.&quot;
 
 <i>For details, see listings. For more information, call the Museum of the Political History of Russia at 233-70-52. </i>

TITLE: chernov's choice
AUTHOR: by Sergey Chernov
TEXT: The Sixth International Jazz Guitar Festival </strong>which this year bears the proud title &quot;The Global One&quot; is a tradition established by the small but excellent JFC Jazz Club.
 However, most of the names are familiar from the everyday activities of the club, while almost every &quot;international&quot; performer is a Russian &eacute;migr&eacute;. U.S. guitarist Paul Bollenback is also no sensation, being a frequent visitor to the city.
 The eternal problem with jazz festivals at clubs is that you mostly find the same names that usually fill the bill - while the word &quot;festival&quot; serves primarily as a means to attract extra attention to a definite venue.
 The festival's events also take place at the JFC and at the normally dormant club Take Five. <i>See Gigs for details.</i>
 At the same time we have another &quot;international festival&quot; of <strong>jazz music and dance </strong>somewhere in the city, whose promoters talked about some &quot;Americans&quot; taking part, but ultimately failed to come up with any names or dates. 
 <strong>Chufella Marzufella, </strong>a unique local band which mixes 1960s British rhythm and blues style reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones and U.S. garage rock, but which plays their own songs written in Russian, will play at the <i>Faculty</i> <i>on Friday.
 </i>They released their third album &quot;Ozma and Garage Days&quot; last year, which is probably their best so far. Ozma is what the band was called when it toured Germany, as Germans were not able to pronounce the band's name, which is derived from a Soviet fairy tale.
 Though their keyboard player is leaving for Spitfire, it looks like they are now in pretty good form.
 <strong>Griboyedov </strong>will throw a birthday party for three members of Dva Samaliota and Grand Viniolles, including Samaliota's bassist and now lyricist Anton Belyankin on <i>Saturday. </i>Both bands will play. 
 The hottest club event of <i>Sunday </i>might be a gig by <strong>Markscheider Kunst </strong>who will play at <i>Zoopark, </i>while the next week will bring <strong>Leningrad </strong>(not 3D, at Manhattan, Tuesday), <strong>King Diamond </strong>(Yubileiny, Tuesday) and the &quot;folk jazz&quot; <strong>Volkovtrio </strong>(JFC, Thursday).
 The <strong>Rock Club, </strong>part of the city's rock history and myth, quietly celebrated its 20th anniversary on Wed nesday with the launch of its official Web site at www.rockclub.ru.
 The organization, which used to promote semi-official concerts for its members, including almost every rock band of note in town, attempted to function as a normal rock club in the 1990s - but now is &quot;temporarily closed&quot; owing to problems with the city's sanitary service.
 The site contains loads of file information, photos and some MP3s, although certain sections are inevitably &quot;under construction.&quot;


TITLE: guide to guides is misguided
AUTHOR: by Masha Kaminskaya <i>
TEXT: A Guide, a Guidess and a Tourist in Addition</i> by Viktor Samoilovich is a book of complications. True, the profession itself - whose intricacies are described profusely in the book's 43 chapters - may not be the easiest one. The author, however, has done little to make these intricacies clearer for the reader. The flowery, if sometimes thorny, ode to a tourist guide's thankless job -&quot;<i>Gid, Gidessa i Turik v Pridachu</i>&quot; in Russian - was conceived as a first excursion into the business. It is crowded with guides and interpreters, tourists and Communist Party officials, historic figures and experts on St. Petersburg museums.
 Samoilovich's book is heavier with allusions, proverbs, history and bilingual jokes than any manual will allow. To give you the taste of the author's boundless love for synonyms, it is so loaded with redundancies, stylistic oversights, inside jokes, metaphors and wayward discussions as to make you stumble on every page.
 To his credit, Samoilovich gives a lot of useful tips, as well as an insight into the history of the tourist business from time immemorial to the Soviet period to the present days. If you've managed to read it to the end, you will be able to recite by heart that the Central Tourist Bureau - which for more than 50 years dealt with foreign tourists and provided courses for beginner guides - was once &quot;moved from Ploshchad Iskusstv to a former German embassy&quot; and that it was a &quot;state inside a state like Vatican,&quot; if only because this fact is repeated at least three times in the first 25 pages of the book. Apart from its similarity to the Vatican, the bureau was filled with &quot;black colonels, by analogy with the putchists in Greece.&quot; Even if the reader grasps Samoilovich's allusion to the KGB, the scale of geography involved makes this excursion far too complicated.
 Just as mysterious is the way the book is divided into chapters. While the table of contents leads you from bus tours to the Hermitage to a hotel, the reading itself is one long wandering in search of meaning. The title of Chapter 39, for instance, is a Russian saying &quot;Laughter without reason is a sign of foolishness.&quot; Well, the whole book, for that matter, is a random collection of meant-to-be-funny stories about a guide's translation lapses, a tourist's cultural shock and the clashes of misunderstanding between the two. With leaps in the narration, the only consistent theme is how much a guide can earn, and how.
 &quot;These notes and slips of the pen are pure imagination, fantasy or a homework on a given topic, the Arabian nights,&quot; warns Samoilovich in the preface. What he forgot to warn us about was strained language, dull humor and total confusion.
 
 <i><strong>Gid, Gidessa i Turik V Pridachu</strong></i><i> by Viktor Samoilovich., St. Petersburg: DEAN, 2001. is available at major bookstores from $1. </i>

TITLE: mariinsky breathes new life into mozart, mahler
AUTHOR: by Giulara Sadykh-zade
TEXT: Last weekend saw two remarkable concerts take place at the Mariinsky. The German musician Eustace Frantz, gifted friend and contemporary of Valery Gergiev, conducted first, followed by Gergiev himself. Frantz, a very active musical figure, founder of the famous Schleswig-Holstein music festival and a virtuoso pianist, has long been feeding a passion for conducting. This was nothing new for St. Petersburg audiences, however - six years ago, having only just taken the conductor's stand, he tested his powers with the Mariinsky orchestra, conducting a successful version of the Magic Flute.
 Returning to St. Petersburg six years later, Frantz has found new Mozart singers among the Mariinsky's troupe, and they are far stronger than in previous years. Thus, Pamina in the Magic Flute fragments was sung by Irina Matayeva, who recently sang the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Leonid Zakhozhaev sang the part of Prince Tamino with conviction as well as beautiful lyricism. As in the previous performance of the Flute, the last weekend's concert included Gennady Bezzubenkov as Sarastro, who was as wonderful as ever.
 More striking than any other performer was Irina Dzhioyeva, playing the part of Queen of the Night. The famous song, written beyond the confines of high tessitura, full of head-spinning virtuoso passages and fiotitura, was performed by a singer with such a degree of subtle mastery, that she might well aspire to the best opera stages in the world.
 Bruckner's &quot;romantic&quot; Fourth Symphony, performed in the second half of the concert, sounded lively and enthusiastic. The changing and agile correlation of score lines and musical layers created the sensation of a full, breathing musical expanse with a remarkably beautiful-sounding orchestra.
 Gergiev's concert turned out to be an even richer and interesting aural experience. The choral poem &quot;The Bell,&quot; an early work of the young Rachmaninov is often considered a &quot;first attempt.&quot; Gergiev's interpretation of the work demonstrated that the artistic significance of the piece has clearly been underestimated. The influence of both Wagner and Mendelssohn are both felt in the first and second acts, while the alarming third act anticipates the genius of Rachmaninov's Symphony dances.
 In the second half, following the Japanese virtuoso Shunzuke Sato's rather superficial performance of Max Bruch's first violin concerto, was a performance of the adagio movement from Mahler's 10th Symphony.
 This is the only part of the symphony that the composer managed to orchestrate in full, not long before his death. Ernst Krenek, English Mahler expert Derrick Cooke and others have tried to reconstruct the orchestration of the remaining parts, which only ever existed in piano transcription and sketches. However, in the eyes of many conductors, these orchestrations do not bear the hallmark of the music's author. The last attempt at reconstruction came from Rudolf Barshay, who spent five years studying Mahler's scores.
 However, recently conductors of world-wide renown have been directing their attention towards Mahler's Tenth Symphony, in which the composer reached new horizons of expression. Last summer at the Lucerne festival, Cooke's reconstruction was performed by Riccardo Chailly with the Konzertgebau orchestra, the autumn saw a performance in St. Petersburg at the Great Hall of the Philharmonic, directed by Barshay, and Sir Simon Rattle recently received a Grammy award for his recording of Mahler's Tenth Symphony with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. As Gergiev was also one of the nominees for the Grammy, it is possible that this was behind the choice of adagio for the final concert.
 The adagio was carefully and thoughtfully interpreted, and not entirely within the habitual &quot;Mahler style&quot; promulgated by Gergiev: the maestro's Mahler performances tend to sound brighter, more certain and tense. However, Mahler's parting work demands a different stance, more sensitive and nervy in intonation. Gergiev, subtly understanding this, has given - with his usual perfectionism - a rarefied air, a breath of eternity to Mahler's last score.

TITLE: better a cat than a cockroach
AUTHOR: by Simon Patterson
TEXT: &quot;Kotletnaya&quot; is not the first Soviet retro restaurant to open in the city, but it may be the first one where the cuisine is fully in line with the decor. While, as my Soviet-born dining companion reminded me, this may not necessarily be a bad thing, it is also interesting to find gastronomic tendencies following political trends.
 Such names as Kotletnaya, Sosichinaya or Ryumochnaya generally represented the bottom of the range in Soviet times, so it is especially unusual to find a new restaurant with a name like this. The Kotletnaya on Pereulok Grivtsova is far from being the cheapest and nastiest the city has to offer, and so there is no question that the retro style on display here is also intended humorously.
 We took shelter from the raging blizzard that has been going on for the last week or so to be ushered into a strange hall with unusual paintings on the wall straight from '70s Soviet culture, with a preponderance of people wearing gas masks, but with camels, monkeys and medical patients also being in evidence. The ceiling is mirrored, while the shabby tiles on the floor seem to preserve the former interior, which looks as though it hasn't seen any remont in 30 years or so.
 We found the menu did indeed display an abundance of &quot;Kotlety.&quot; For starters, my colleague had the tongue with horse radish (91 rubles) , while I went for the ultra-traditional solyanka (76 rubles), which turned out in fact to differ from all other solyankas by having a generous helping of capers in it.
 As I sipped my Bochkarev beer (25 rubles) and she sipped her orange juice (20 rubles) I put the menu on the chair next to us, hoping we could refer to it later the way restaurant critics like to do. I was rather surprised to see the menu start to move, and under it we discovered a surprisingly underfed-looking ginger cat, who it seems lives in the restaurant. He was a happy recipient of the tongue, but my colleague was not so keen, pronouncing it rubbery.
 We found our kotlety to be more exciting, with mine the &quot;Kotleta po-Mikhailovsky,&quot; (130 rubles) a mixture of pork and vegetable kotleta in batter, while my colleague ordered the kotleta with perch and mushrooms (120 rubles). 
 We found these to be perfectly acceptable, but the cat was indifferent to both kotlety, perhaps being rather sick of them after eating so many.
 If dining with cats goes against your idea of hygiene, Kotletnaya may not be the place for you, but after battling flies and cockroaches in other restaurants, I found the feline company to be a vast improvement. As far as other entertainment goes, the restaurant promises live music from 7 p.m., and a piano in the corner would seem to confirm that this does indeed occur.
 The only hazard is that, given the restaurant's proximity to the Sennaya Ploshchad area, you can expect the occasional drunk to wander in from the street to regale the patrons with tales of alcoholic woe. While we were eating, one particularly bewildered individual came in, but seeing he was getting no sympathy, didn't stay for very long. Others may not be so easily dispelled, however. Maybe you could try setting the cat on them.
 
 <i>Kotletnaya, 7 Pereulok Grivtsova. Lunch for two (and a cat) with some beer, 523 rubles ($18). Open 7 days a week, 12 p.m to 12 a.m. Tel: 219-40-50. </i>

TITLE: praudin stages theater for the 21st century
AUTHOR: by Natasha Shirokova
TEXT: It has become habitual to talk about each new performance of Anatoly Praudin as the beginning of a new trend in theater art. This is no exaggeration, as the director invents prodigiously. 
 The Experimental Stage Theater formed by Praudin has existed for almost two years already, with two performances becoming the most interesting theatrical events of recent years. Peculiar stylistically, they combine elaborate form with philosophical content. &quot;Sisyphus and the Stone&quot; is their latest production, and is currently part of the Baltiisky Dom repertoire.
 &quot;Sisyphus and Stone&quot; is an original play written by Natalya Skorokhod, based on French writer Albert Camus' famous essay. In this essay, Camus formulates the main problems of existentialism, that personal freedom lies in realizing one's own destiny and following it. Skorokhod preserves this basic idea, while the play is written in an absurdist manner.
 Sisyphus fulfills his everyday routine. He has to carry the stone to the top of the mountain, as the gods have sentenced him to this eternal labor. It has been noted that structurally the play resembles a computer game, when to pass to a higher level the character needs to complete a certain task. But the stone falls every time, and everything starts from the beginning.
 Skorokhod personifies the stone, and Sisyphus communicates with it. They are doomed to spend eternity together. It can also be interpreted as a part of Sisyphus' self. He accepts his burden and his destiny, which makes him wiser than the gods.
 Anatoly Praudin is one of the few directors who has a permanent cast of his own. The troupe of the Experimental Stage Theater was formed from former TYuZ actors the director worked with. However, it seems difficult to talk about the actors' work in this minimalist production. 
 Irina Sokolova, who plays the part of the Stone and Alexander Borisov, who plays Sisyphus, have participated in other Praudin productions. While they worked together in Chukovsky's &quot;The Crocodile&quot; and Pushkin's &quot;The Late Demon,&quot; their task in &quot;Sisyphus and the Stone&quot; was quite new. Their speech is deprived of habitual psychological coloring, and movements are dependent on the general rhythm, with poses stylized like Egyptian <i>haut-reliefs. </i>In any case, the main accent is placed on the text, verbal repetition, sets and costumes. The actors in the production seem to be just marionettes in the hands of an experienced puppeteer.
 The set itself, created by Mart Kitayev, also resemble an Egyptian pyramid. Sisyphus carries the stone to its top. All the characters exist within the limits of the rusty metal construction and never leave it, like figures in an ancient pattern on the walls of a pyramid.
 In the production the director has worked out a perfect form. The combination of Greek mythology, existentialism, Egyptian art and computer games seem not to contradict each other, but find their own essential place in the production. Quotations of all kinds have become commonplace for the art of the 20th century. But if postmodern art uses them to underline the meaninglessness and emptiness of life, and the decline of the arts, Anatoly Praudin's different epochs coexist simultaneously and help to create new meanings while maintaining basic values. In this sense his production is a piece of truly original art for the 21st century.
 
 <i>Sisyphus and the Stone will next be performed at the Baltiisky Dom on Tuesday, March 13. </i>

TITLE: Galatasaray Continues To Shine
AUTHOR: By Mike Collett
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: LONDON - Valencia and Galata saray secured their places in the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Wed nesday, although Deportivo Coruna stole their thunder on the night with an astonishing 4-3 victory over Paris St. Germain after being 0-3 down.
 Valencia, runner-up to Real Madrid in last season's European Cup final, thrashed Sturm Graz 5-0 away to ensure it cannot finish lower than second in Group A - even if it loses to Panathinaikos in its final group match next week.
 Goals from substitute Diego Alonso (2), Fabian Ayala, John Carew and Kily Gonzalez demolished the Austrians, who were reduced to 10 men when Gilbert Prilasnig was sent off after 35 minutes for a professional foul on Carew.
 Former champion Manchester United is likely to qualify with Valencia after it stole a point with a Paul Scholes goal in the second minute of stoppage time in a 1-1 draw at Panathinaikos.
 The Greek side, playing just for pride after already being eliminated, was in superb form and only a great performance from United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez kept it from winning. 
 Teenager Giorgios Seitaridis scored for the home side after 25 minutes and it looked set for its first ever win over an English side at the 10th attempt, until Scholes's late strike.
 United will almost certainly reach the last eight when it faces Sturm Graz at Old Trafford next week - but if it were to lose by three clear goals, Sturm would qualify alongside Valencia in United's place.
 Valencia tops the group with nine points, the same number as Alex Ferguson's side, but the Spaniards are on top as they have the better head-to-head record against United. Sturm has six points and Panathinaikos has two.
 Galatasaray, which last year became the first Turkish side ever to win a European competition when it beat Arsenal to lift the UEFA Cup, made more history, albeit a little more modestly, on Wednesday.
 Its 2-0 win over AC Milan in Istanbul means it has become the first Turkish side to qualify for the last eight of the Champions League - although it did reach the semifinals of the old European Cup in 1989.
 Goals from Gheorghe Hagi (19) and Mario Jardel (86) gave Galatasaray the points and it was well worth its victory over Milan, champion of Europe five times in the past.
 Galatasaray cannot finish lower than second even if its loses it final match at Paris St. Germain next week.
 PSG was involved in the most remarkable match of the night when it was beaten 4-3 by Deportivo Coruna in Spain after leading 3-0 inside 55 minutes.
 Goals from Augustine Okocha (29) and Laurent Leroy (43 and 55) appeared to have given PSG the opportunity to rise from the dead in the group - but it proved to be just an illusion.
 Deportivo struck back venomously with second-half substitute Walter Pandiani scoring a hat trick inside 27 minutes and Diego Tristan adding another for a famous victory.
 The only other teams definitely through to the quarterfinals are Real Madrid and Leeds United from group D. Going into the final round of the second phase, eight teams are battling for the remaining four spots.

TITLE: Serbs Let Back to Border Zone
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: NATO allies agreed Thursday to allow the controlled return of Serbian security forces to a buffer zone along a part of the Macedonian border where ethnic Albanian gunmen have occupied territory.
 &quot;Do not expect an overnight blitz,&quot; a military source cautioned. NATO would oversee Serbian deployments into territory that has been off-limits to the Yugoslav Army since NATO fixed the buffer zone around Kosovo in June 1999.
 The commander of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo, COMKKFOR General Carlo Cabigiosu of Italy, would keep a tight check on the reins as well-armed Serbian forces move back to an area where only policemen with pistols have been allowed.
 &quot;The North Atlantic Council has today agreed to certain measures including.... authorizing COMKFOR to allow the controlled return of [Yugoslav] forces into the Ground Safety Zone in a narrow sector next to the border with...Macedonia,&quot; a NATO Secretary General George Robertson said in a statement.
 &quot;...COMKFOR should at this stage retain authority over the GSZ and Air Safety Zone,&quot; he specified.
 The Serbian forces would be given the green light to move into the five-km wide zone where it adjoins the border with Macedonia, leaving an unguarded gateway which has been exploited by ethnic Albanian gunmen.
 Ethnic Albanian separatist forces occupied a stretch of the buffer zone in southern Serbia last year and began launching attacks on police in the Presevo Valley. Recently, gunmen seized adjacent Macedonian land, apparently exploiting the gate created by NATO's no-go order to Belgrade.
 The depth of the Serbian deployment to plug this gap, whether one km or deeper, was still to be settled, NATO sources said. Timing remained also remained to be agreed.
 Military sources noted that a carefully coordinated operation would be required in the border triangle area, considering there would be KFOR troops to the west, Macedonian army forces to the south and Serb forces entering from the east with a hostile force in the middle.
 &quot;We don't want any mistaken firefights,&quot; said one.
 The sources estimated the number of armed rebels operating on the Macedonian border at no more than 200.
 Cabigiosu would also determine the level of armament Serbia should deploy. Military sources said it was likely to include armored vehicles and possibly helicopters but not tanks.
 The rebels are armed with heavy machineguns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They are not believed to possess sophisticated weapons.
 &quot;This is a first step in a phased and conditioned reduction of the GSZ,&quot; the NATO statement said.
 &quot;Further controlled return to the GSZ should continue rapidly thereafter in defined sectors, subject to approval of the North Atlantic Council,&quot; it added, in an apparent reference to 320 kilometers of buffer zone where there has been no conflict in the past 21 months..
 &quot;Access to the final sector which has seen the most conflict will be authorized by the Council at a later stage,&quot; Robertson said, apparently referring to the Presevo Valley region where the buffer zone has been occupied by 600-800 guerrillas.
 NATO's decision follows many warnings to Albanian extremists that their attempts to provoke a conflict will not be tolerated.
 Robertson noted that three Serbian policemen were killed on Wednesday by a land mine planted in the Presevo Valley, taking the death toll closer to 40 in several months of attacks.
 His statement also stressed, however, that Serbia's new democratic leadership had promised dialogue with Presevo's ethnic Albanians.

TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Crum Calls it Quits
 

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - Denny Crum, a member of the college basketball Hall of Fame, coached his final game Wednesday night as Louisville lost to Alabama-Birmingham in the first round of the Conference USA tournament at Freedom Hall.
 Crum, who has 675 career victories and coached two NCAA championship teams at Louisville, agreed Friday to a buyout of the remaining two years of his contract and his 30-year career came to an end with a 74-61 loss to the Blazers.
 "It's been a long career," Crum said. "All I can say at this point is I wish it hadn't ended here tonight. I think that at this point I'm happy that I'm going to get to do some things and spend some time with my family and friends. This job is very demanding. I've given my life to it. But I don't regret anything."
 Crum, was inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and is the only active coach with that distinction. His six Final Four appearances rank him fourth on the all-time list behind Wooden (12), Dean Smith (11) and Mike Krzyzewski (8). 
 
 
Bledsoe Highest Paid
 

BOSTON (AP) - The size of Drew Bledsoe's new paycheck wasn't as important to him as the team that will be signing it.
 "I've expressed over and over again my desire to play my entire career with the New England Patriots," Bledsoe said Wednesday after agreeing to a 10-year, $103 million deal that is the biggest in NFL history. "It looks like that is a very real possibility."
 The deal surpasses the reported 10-year, $100 million contract signed by Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre only last Friday. It also gives Bledsoe a chance to do something Favre and most other athletes never could: play out a career with one team.
 Last season, he threw for 3,291 yards with 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In his career, he has thrown for 29,257 yards and 164 touchdowns, with 136 interceptions and a completion percentage of 56.2 percent. 
 
 
Belle Unlikely To Play 
 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) - The only mystery surrounding Albert Belle's status appears to be how he will leave baseball.
 Belle and the Baltimore Orioles agree that it's "highly unlikely" he will ever appear in another game, according to a source familiar with his conversations with the team.
 Belle, Orioles owner Peter Angelos and the players association had conversations about how to proceed with the outfielder's departure, said the source, who spoke on the condition he not be identified.
 Baltimore owes Belle $13 million in each of the final three seasons of his $65 million, five-year contract, but 70 percent of each season's total is covered by insurance. The team's options are releasing him or placing him on the 60-day disabled list for each of the three seasons.
 
 
NBA Suspends Players
 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers guard Isaiah Rider and Los Angeles Clippers forward Lamar Odom were each suspended five games by the NBA Wednesday for violating terms of the league's anti-drug program.
 The suspension is the latest setback for the troubled Rider, who wore out his welcome with three teams over clashes with teammates, coaches and management.
 Despite Rider's "bad boy" reputation, the Lakers took a chance on him in the offseason, signing him to a one-year contract. He has averaged 8.1 points per game.
 Odom, the fourth overall pick in the 1999 draft, is considered one of the top young players in the league.
 
 
Kostner Wins Title
 

ARE, Sweden (Reuters) - Germany's Hilde Gerg capped an injury-plagued season by taking the final women's World Cup downhill race on Thursday while Italian Isolde Kostner placed second to lift her first downhill title.
 Gerg battled poor visibility due to heavy cloud cover to race down the 2.1-kilometer Olympia course in one minute 16.56 seconds to win a downhill for the second time in her career.
 Kostner, who went into the race leading Austria's Renate Goetschl by 61 points in the standings, ensured her title by placing second in 1:16.87 for her sixth downhill podium finish of the season.
 Kostner topped the podium twice in eight races and finished twice four times. Her worst result was a seventh-place finish in St. Moritz. 



TITLE: Francis Lifts Rockets Past Floundering Hawks
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: ATLANTA, Georgia - The Houston Rockets came back from 20 points down to beat the Atlanta Hawks, 104-98, Wednesday.
 Steve Francis gave Houston the lead for good in the fourth quarter when he hit the last of his three three-pointers with 25 seconds remaining. Francis finished with 31 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
 The Rockets trailed by 20 points after a miserable first half but dominated the final 24 minutes and snapped a four-game losing streak in Atlanta.
 
 <strong>Milwaukee 101, Boston 94. </strong>In Boston, the Milwaukee Bucks, despite having their All-Stars, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson, held to a combined six-of-23 shooting, beat the Boston Celtics 101-94.
 Boston is just 2-7 in its last nine contests.
 Sam Cassell and Tim Thomas picked up the slack for Allen and Robinson, scoring 24 and 22 points, respectively.
 
 <strong>New York 79, Indiana 75. </strong>In Indianapolis, the New York Knicks used a 10-0 run to end the game and to beat the Indiana Pacers 79-75.
 The Pacers were without Reggie Miller, who was serving a one-game suspension for throwing chewing gum at an official.
 The Pacers held a 75-69 lead after Al Harrington's two free throws with 4:11 remaining. But back-to-back three-pointers by Latrell Sprewell and Glen Rice tied the game with 1:43 to go.
 Jermaine O'Neal, who had 17 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks, had a chance to reclaim the lead for Indiana, but missed a pair of free throws with 1:14 left.
 Sprewell led the Knicks with 26 points, including only two less than the Pacers in the fourth quarter.
 <strong>Los Angeles Lakers 97, Toronto 85. </strong>In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant, hobbled by a bruised ankle, scored 17 of his 29 points in the third quarter, including 10 straight in a decisive run that gave the Los Angeles Lakers a 97-85 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
 In the first half, Bryant shot a dismal one-of-10 for two points, but opened up to make four of five shots as the Lakers took over with a 15-2 run to close the third quarter.
 <strong>Dallas 93, Miami 86. </strong>In Miami, Michael Finley and Dirk Nowitzki hit three-pointers down the stretch and the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat, 93-86.
 The duo's sharpshooting gave Dallas an 86-78 lead with just over three minutes left.
 Nowitzki scored 29 points, Steve Nash added 19 and Finley and Juwan Howard had 16 apiece for the Mavs.
 
 <strong>Orlando 112, Detroit 102. </strong>In Orlando, Tracy McGrady scored 23 of his 37 points in the second half and added 11 rebounds and five assists to lead the Orlando Magic to a 112-102 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
 Rookie Mike Miller finished with 20 points for Orlando, which has won 14 of 18 games.
 Detroit's Jerry Stackhouse scored 36 points.
 
 <strong>Philadelphia 102, New Jersey 94. </strong>In Philadelphia, Allen Iverson scored 14 of his 38 points in the final nine minutes as the Philadelphia 76ers rallied for a 102-94 victory over Stephon Marbury and the New Jersey Nets.
 Iverson, the league's leading scorer, took over in the fourth quarter, giving the 76ers their first lead since the opening minute with a fadeaway jumper with 8:22 remaining and made sure they never trailed again.
 Iverson was just 12-of-32 from the field but made 13 of 14 free throws and added seven assists and four steals. He scored 14 of Philadelphia's final 19 points.
 
 <strong>Sacramento 100, Phoenix 89. </strong>In Phoenix, The Sacramento Kings rallied from a 28-point, second-quarter deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns 100-89.
 Chris Webber had 34 points and 11 rebounds in the second half.
 Vlade Divac had 16 points and rookie Hidayet Turkoglu 13 for Sacramento.
 
 <strong>Utah 86, Seattle 82. </strong>In Salt Lake City, Karl Malone, second on the NBA's all-time scoring list, had 26 points and John Stockton, the league's all-time assists leader, had 15 to lead the Utah Jazz to an 86-82 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics.

TITLE: Henman, Norman Advance to Quarters
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: SCOTTSDALE, Arizona - Sixth-seed Tim Henman of Britain overcame a six-hour rain delay to beat Spaniard German Puentes 6-1, 7-5 Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals of the $400,000 Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic.
 Henman will meet Israel's Harel Levy, who dismissed giant killer Andrew Ilie of Australia, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2. Ilie had upset top-seed Pete Sampras of the United States in a dramatic three-setter on Tuesday. Also reaching the quarterfinals were Magnus Norman of Sweden who outslugged Argentine teenager Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-1, and American hopeful Mardy Fish, who eliminated seventh seeded Swede Thomas Enqvist 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
 Fish combined a booming baseline game with an effective serve to claim the biggest scalp of his brief two-year pro career at the expense of Enqvist, who was playing just his second match after double surgery on his right foot and shoulder in December.
 &quot;It's hopefully the biggest win of a great career for me,&quot; said Fish, who reached his second career quarterfinal round in just his sixth ATP tournament. &quot;I just turned 19 and a win like this at an early age can do wonders for a career.&quot;
 
 q
 Sarah Pitkowski of France defeated American Alexandra Stevenson 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round at the $2 million Tennis Masters Series on Wednesday.
 Pitkowski, who squandered a 3-1 edge in the first set to lose that opening set, scoffed at Stevenson's assertion that she didn't win the match on her own merits.
 &quot;If she thinks that, that's good for her,&quot; Pitkowski said. &quot;I think that I push her to make the mistakes. Maybe she didn't realize that I was more focused and more concentrated to make her play.
 &quot;She thinks that probably she gave me the match. I maybe push her a little bit, I think.&quot;
 After evening the score by taking the second set, Pitkowski hit two double faults - one on the first point and one at 15-40 - to lose her serve in the fifth game of the third set. From 4-2 down, she stepped up her play by retrieving ball after ball and won the final four games.
 With Stevenson serving in the final 20-point game, Pitkowski finally prevailed on her fourth match point when the American smacked a backhand wide.
 In another first-round match on Wednesday, former French Open champion Iva Majoli of Croatia continued her comeback to tennis with a quick 6-4, 6-2 victory over Marlene Weingartner of Germany.
 A right shoulder injury that required surgery after the 1999 U.S. Open kept her out of action for most of the 2000 season. Back on track, the once fourth-ranked Majoli is now situated in the number 47 slot on the WTA Tour rankings.
 Majoli admits that her inspiration to succeed again in tennis is directly related to her closest friend in the game - Jennifer Capriati. She points to Capriati's ability to take several years off from tennis and then return to the game and eventually win her first Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open this January as proof it can be done.
 &quot;I think Jennifer is the great example,&quot; Majoli said. &quot;I mean, she struggled a lot. She's my best friend on the tour. I hope I could come back and do the same thing.''

TITLE: End of an Era in Dallas: QB Aikman Waived by Cowboys
AUTHOR: By Jaime Aron
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: IRVING, Texas - When Troy Aikman signed an $85.5 million contract two years ago, he figured it meant he would be with the Dallas Cowboys the rest of his career.
 Turns out, that same piece of paper is a big reason why the team waived him Wednesday.
 Aikman's deal called for a $7 million bonus and an extension through 2007 to kick in if he was on the rosterThursday. Once the Cowboys realized that delaying the dollars would've only made things worse on future salary caps, owner Jerry Jones had little choice but to make a tough decision.
 &quot;To do what needed to be done to give us a chance to be successful would've definitely created some problems down the road,&quot; Aikman said. &quot;The long-term, crippling effect of the cap would not be worth that.&quot;
 Aikman said if the Cowboys thought having him around another year or two would bring another Super Bowl title, the risk might've been worth it. Coming off a 5-11 season in which Aikman made it through only eight games, that wasn't likely.
 &quot;It wasn't in the best interest of the ballclub to try doing that,&quot; Aikman said.
 So after 12 seasons, six division titles and three Super Bowl championships, Aikman will no longer be wearing a star on the side of his helmet.
 But, if he has his way, the 34-year-old Aikman will still be playing in the NFL - despite the 10 career concussions and ongoing back pain that many thought might drive him into retirement before the Cowboys had to push him out.
 &quot;I'm still capable of going out and playing at a high level and being healthy and doing the things necessary to be productive,&quot; Aikman said.
 The most likely landing spot is San Diego, where close friend Norv Turner is the offensive coordinator.
 The Chargers, who released incumbent starter Ryan Leaf last week, also could use Aikman to groom Michael Vick should they make him the first pick in the upcoming draft.
 &quot;I would certainly entertain that thought,&quot; Aikman said.
 Jones said Aikman's fragility and contract were part of many factors that forced him to drop the first player he ever drafted.
 &quot;If you're in my shoes and have been able to get up for the last 12 years and have a franchise quarterback, that's a luxury in the NFL,&quot; Jones said. &quot;I'm going to miss that personally and we're going to miss that as an organization.&quot;
 Aikman actually will have a big impact on the 2001 season: He takes up $10 million of the team's $67.4 million salary cap.
 Because of Aikman's new cap figure, Dallas had to release veteran Erik Williams and Chad Hennings, plus rework several other contracts, to get back under the league-mandated figure.
 The departure of Aikman, Williams and Hennings means that only Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson remain from the teams that won Super Bowls in 1992, '93 and '95.
 The Cowboys are 39-41 in the regular season since their last Super Bowl. They're 1-3 in the playoffs and are on their third head coach.
 As for their next quarterback, there's no obvious answer. The only ones left on the roster are Anthony Wright, who lost his two starts last year, and Clint Stoerner, who threw just five passes.
 Being strapped on the salary cap will make it tough to sign a free agent such as Trent Dilfer. The draft may be a better option, although Dallas has no first-round pick.
 Whoever takes over will be in a tough spot. Then again, it can't be any tougher than Aikman faced when he was the top overall pick in the 1989 draft and immediately was labeled the franchise's savior.
 After losing his first 11 games, Aikman won 90 in the 1990s, the most for any quarterback in any decade.
 He won his first seven playoff games and 10 of his first 11. He was the MVP of his first Super Bowl, then joined Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with at least three Super Bowl victories.
 And although fantasy football players weren't enamored with Aikman, he does have impressive career numbers: 2,898 of 4,715 passes (61.5 percent) for 32,942 yards, 165 touchdowns and 141 interceptions. In the playoffs, he was 320-of-502 (63.7 percent) for 3,849 yards, 23 TDs and 17 INTs.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Sharon To Take Power
 

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon has completed his political jigsaw, putting together a coalition government with the avowed aim of ending an almost six-month-old bloody Palestinian uprising.
 The death of a Palestinian gunman in a battle with troops late Sunday brought the toll to at least 342 Palestinians, 65 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs killed since late September.
 Sharon signed up the 17-seat ultra-Orthodox Shas party for his "national unity" coalition Sunday, ensuring a majority in the 120-seat Knesset to assure parliamentary approval of his governing coalition by a self-set Wednesday deadline.
 Waiting in the wings is the militant Islamic group Hamas, which has threatened to unleash 10 suicide bombers as soon as Sharon takes power.
 
 
China School Blast 
 

BEIJING (AP) - Parents of children who died in a schoolhouse explosion in southeastern China that killed at least 41 people said Thursday that pupils were forced to make fireworks in class. 
 They accused government officials - who insisted that fireworks were not the cause of the disaster - of lying. 
 Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji blamed a man with mental problems for Tuesday's explosion, which destroyed the school in Fang Lin village, Jiangxi province. But a parent said the school forced children to manufacture fireworks to cover its budget and benefit teachers. 
 
 
Indonesian Protests
 

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police fired into a group of protesters on Thursday, wounding at least five, in the ravaged Borneo city of Palangkaraya just minutes after President Abdurrahman Wahid had left the area, witnesses said.
 Indigenous Dayak protesters were demanding the government expel migrants from Madura island, hundreds of whom were killed and tens of thousands forced to flee after a Dayak-led slaughter late last month.
 Earlier, embattled President Wahid traveled to the strife-torn area, landing in the central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya and then going straight to the river town of Sampit - the scene of the worst slaughter.
 His visit came only a few hours after his return from a much-criticized two-week tour of the Middle East and Africa and as frustration over his 16-month bumbling rule grows.
 
 
Rwandan Elections
 

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) - Rwandans voted Tuesday in local elections, the first secret ballot since the 1994 genocide, in which more than 500,000 people were slaughtered. 
 The elections are an effort to foster democracy in a country where politics have too often been based on ethnicity, said Protais Musoni, chairman of the central African country's National Electoral Commission. 
 Nearly half of Rwanda's 8 million people have registered to vote in 92 rural districts and 14 urban districts. It will be the first time since 1963 that district councilors have been elected rather than appointed directly by the president. 
 The election will also be the first time women will become district councilors. In addition to 1,550 councilors elected from the general population, another 517 council seats are being set aside for women and the same number for candidates between ages 18 to 35, Musoni said. 
 
 
Buddhas Under Threat
 

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement vowed on Thursday to complete the destruction of all statues, but it kept the world in suspense about the fate of two partly-damaged giant Buddhas in central Bamiyan province.
 Witnesses had reported that the radical Islamic movement had suspended destruction of the two statues earlier this week because of holidays for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.
 Taleban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil said there was no possibility of reversing an edict issued by the movement's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, for total destruction of all statues - including the two giant Buddhas that are the country's best-known archaeological treasure.
 
 
IRA Offers To Talk
 

BELFAST (Reuters) - IRA guerrillas said they would reopen talks with Northern Ireland's disarmament body on Thursday as the prime ministers of Britain and Ireland held talks in the province to try to bolster its shaky peace pact.
 But the Irish Republican Army (IRA) warned that Britain had to stick to its side of the bargain in the tortuous peace process by creating acceptable policing arrangements in volatile Northern Ireland and scaling down its military presence.
 The guerrillas put the disarmament discussions on ice last summer, accusing Britain of reneging on its promises on the thorny policing and military issues.
 
 
Disease Still Spreading
 

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government said on Thursday that a virulent foot-and-mouth outbreak showed no sign yet of being contained.
 Agriculture Minister Nick Brown told parliament there were 104 confirmed cases, one of which is in Northern Ireland, as eight new infected sites were found.
 Much of the British countryside is effectively in quarantine as officials race to contain down the disease through a program of livestock slaughter and incineration.
 Ireland has postponed its international rugby union matches with England and Scotland in order to prevent further spreading of the disease.
 Foot-and-mouth causes blisters on the hooves and mouths of sheep, pigs, cattle and goats, followed by severe weight loss but rarely death. 
 
 
Space Skydive Planned 
 

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A former Australian army commando plans to jump off the edge of outer space and plummet almost 40 kilometers to Earth in the highest skydive ever. 
 Rodd Millner, 37, will make the jump by riding in a hot air balloon to the edge of space, it was reported Sunday. He will wear an astronaut's suit to protect his body from extreme pressures. 
 The plan calls for Millner to fall at up to 1,760 kilometers per hour during a seven-minute fall before opening a parachute. If he succeeds, he will break the sound barrier, it was reported. 
 The jump may be a relaxing change for Millner, who teaches explosives and mine warfare to Australian army recruits. 



TITLE: Poapst Leads Hawks to Victory With First Goal in Over 4 Years
PUBLISHER: Reuters
TEXT: DALLAS, Texas - Steve Poapst, who has spent most of his career in the minor leagues, scored twice as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars, 4-1, Wednesday.
 Poapst was recalled from Norfolk of the American Hockey League in January. His last NHL goal was four years ago.
 Eric Daze and Bob Probert had second-period goals to extend Chicago's lead to 3-0.
 Jocelyn Thibault made 18 saves for Chicago.
 
 <strong>Anaheim 4, Montreal 2. </strong>In Anaheim, Jeff Friesen assisted on both of Paul Kariya's goals as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2.
 Anaheim has the worst record in the Western Conference, but has won two in a row at home.
 Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 27 shots for Anaheim.
 
 <strong>Carolina 2, Columbus 1. </strong>In Raleigh, North Carolina, Rod Brind'Amour scored twice, including the game-winner in the third period, to lead the Carolina Panthers to a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Hurricanes moved two points ahead of Boston in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot with their third win in four games.
 
 <strong>Edmonton 4, Toronto 0. </strong>In Edmonton, Alberta, Tommy Salo whitewashed the Toronto Maple Leafs and Todd Marchant had a goal and an assist to lead the Edmonton Oilers to their sixth straight win, 4-0 over Toronto. 
 Marchant set up the only goal Salo needed 8:40 into the opening period. He slid a short pass to Ethan Moreau, who snapped a shot from the inside edge of the right faceoff circle past Curtis Joseph for his eighth goal of the season and first since Jan. 31.
 
 <strong>San Jose 3, Florida 3. </strong>In Sunrise, Florida, Scott Thornton scored his third goal with 86 seconds left in the third period as the San Jose Sharks rallied for a 3-3 tie with the Florida Panthers.
 Pavel Bure scored his league-leading 45th goal and Len Barrie had a goal and two assists for the Panthers, who are winless in their last eight games.