SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #686 (53), Friday, July 13, 2001
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TITLE: Vice Governor Faces Bribery Accusations
AUTHOR: By Masha Kaminskaya and Vladimir Kovalyev

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that they had filed a bribery charge against Vice Governor Valery Malyshev, a close ally of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev.
 "Malyshev has been charged in connection with a criminal case over receiving a particularly large bribe," Vladimir Goltsmer, assistant to the deputy prosecutor general for the Northwest Region said in a telephone interview on Thursday. 
 Malyshev, who has had previous encounters with law enforcement officials, has not been arrested and continues to work at his post. The city administration has expressed skepticism about the charges.
 Goltsmer refused to elaborate further or give details of the circumstances surrounding the case. He also refused to specify the size of the alleged bribe, saying only that "a particularly large bribe" is qualified by the Russian Criminal Code as one not less than 300 minimum wages or nearly 30,000 rubles ($1,000). He also refused to say whether Malyshev was the only person charged in relation to the case.
 Malyshev left the city on Wednesday on a business trip to Moscow and was not available for comment. However, according to an Interfax report early on Wednesday, Malyshev said that he did not know the details of the charge and that he was eager for an investigation to establish the truth.
 Malyshev's lawyer, Semyon Heifits, told The St. Petersburg Times on Thursday that he had not yet seen the case materials, but based on conversations with his client, he called the charge "illegitimate and unsubstantiated." 
 "The defense is positive that there is no corpus delicti in my client's actions and that after a thorough investigation the prosecution will come to the same conclusion," Heifits said, refusing to elaborate.
 Governor Vladimir Yakovlev has rallied behind his colleague. An article in business daily Delovoi Peterburg quoted the governor as saying "the administration will not abandon [Malyshev] until the charge is proven." Yakovlev appealed to the media to report the case "fairly."
 Yakovlev's spokesperson, Alexander Afanasyev, said the city administration hopes for an unprejudiced investigation and is ready to cooperate with prosecutors in order to see the matter resolved quickly.
 However, he said the charge "was not news as over the last several years, [prosecutors] have announced several big cases against a number of the city's authorities, but all of [the cases] were dropped."
 Seen as Yakovlev's closest ally, Malyshev has been viewed as the governor's likely successor when his term expires in 2004, or if Yakovlev is appointed to a position in Moscow.
 According to Interfax, Yakovlev said that central issue was not about bribery at all.
 "It is about loans that [Malyshev] took for his personal needs, in particular, for the construction of a dacha and other purposes," Yakovlev said. "Hundreds of thousands of people take loans from banks in Russia and, as far as I know, loans are not illegal in our country."
 Yakovlev added that he saw "a political force behind the charge, although a difficult one to detect."
 Alexei Gutsailo, a spokesperson for Northwest Region Governor General Viktor Cherkesov, denied the implication that his office might be involved.
 "This is a very old case," said Gutsailo. "It is the Prosecutor General's Office in the Northwest Region that is responsible for the case, but that doesn't mean at all that there are links to the governor general's office."
 According to Goltsmer, police searched Malyshev's office in Smolny, as well as his apartment and dacha last Friday. Malyshev's property, except for his personal belongings, has been frozen.
 Prosecutors filed the charge, which was signed by the deputy prosecutor general for the Northwest Region, Vladimir Zubrin, on the same day. Malyshev signed a guarantee that he would not leave the city without express permission. 
 "The case was initiated around two months ago," Goltsmer said. "On Friday, we performed the necessary investigative procedures, including the search and laying charges, but only announced the charges on Tuesday."
 "We did so to allow enough time for the procedures without [the media] complicating the matters for us and Malyshev himself."
 According to Interfax, Malyshev said he had no idea what the detectives had been looking for during the search.
 Delovoi Peterburg reported that the case has to do with interest-free loans Malyshev allegedly received from St. Petersburg-based Eximbank - which has sponsored a number of local sporting events in the city - for reasons other than work on his family's dacha.
 "It is likely that the bank gave the loan to get some privileges, possibly, exclusive rights to advertise [during the events]," the paper said, citing sources in the Legislative Assembly.
 The same sources also allege that the real motive behind the charge could be the prosecutors' desire to get information from Malyshev's personal and office computers about cash flows involved in the controversial construction of the Ice Palace and the major road projects that Malyshev oversaw. This version seemed likely to City Hall sources who spoke to The St. Petersburg Times and requested anonymity.
 Neither Goltsmer of the Prosecutor General's Office nor Eximbank would comment on the alleged bank loans.
 Malyshev's lawyer did confirm that his client had been given several loans. He said, however, that another portion of these loans - taken to repair Malyshev's dacha - had been repaid, and a portion was not interest-free. He refused to say when the loans were granted.
 The news broke just as the World Bank was holding an international conference on legal and judicial reform in St. Petersburg, and was first aired by the TASS and Rosbalt news agencies. Additional details were later provided by RTR television. All three outlets are said to be strongly influenced by Cherkesov.
 Malyshev's laywer, Heifitz, said the timing of the announcement with the conference was no coincidence.
 "It has provoked an unnecessary stir in the media and questioned my client's honesty, impeccable past and renowned career," said Heifits.
 Malyshev was reappointed one of the city's 13 vice governors in October 2000, and is the chair of the Sports, Transport and Communications Committee. He held these posts earlier before being elected to the State Duma on the Fatherland-All Russia party list in December 1999, but resigned his seat to take the St. Petersburg position. Yakovlev was one of the leaders of the Fatherland-All Russia faction.
 Before going to the Duma, Malyshev also served as liaison between the city administration and the Legislative Assembly. In the fall of 1999, Malyshev supported Yakovlev's drive to have the local gubernatorial election moved forward to coincide with the Duma elections, a controversial move that was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
 About the same time, an Interior Ministry investigation linked Malyshev to a shell company that had allegedly illegally financed the All-Russia faction congress on May 22, 1999, with money from the city budget. His office at Smolny was searched by a special investigative group from Moscow. No charges were brought, but he was named in a special Interior Ministry task force report on corruption in St. Petersburg that year.

TITLE: Deputy Seeks Lost Romanov Treasure
AUTHOR: By Sam Charap

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: When the events of 1917 hit Petrograd, the members of the Imperial family who hadn't yet been driven abroad by the mass demonstrations demanding their blood, made a mad dash from the city, carrying all the valuables they could.
 But some royals - either fearing their treasures would be looted by the angry hordes or that the massive collections of jewels, gold, art and other valuables in their carriages would be too unwieldy - buried their heirlooms, hoping the 1917 uprisings would be short-lived.
 Duma Deputy Konstantin Sevenard - against all odds- is banking on this version of events.
 At a press conference on Tuesday and in an interview later with The St. Petersburg Times, Sevenard said he had information on the whereabouts of a long-lost royal cache. In particular, he claims to know the location of the treasures of legendary ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and her husband, the Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. 
 The booty, according to Sevenard, is buried some 10 to 20 meters underground in the family's former mansion on the Petrograd Side, which now houses the Russian Museum of Political History. After the family's flight, the mansion housed a division of the provisional government until it was taken over by the Bolsheviks. Vladimir Lenin often addressed the masses from its balcony at 4 Ul. Kuybysheyeva.
 "This will be a very important archeological find on a global scale, because such major hiding places haven't been found for a long time," said Sevenard. He anticipated finding priceless china, works of art, sculptures, weaponry, and ancient Roman artifacts, which he claims were collected by Kshesinskaya.
 Sevenard also said he would finance the project - which, by his estimates, will cost around $1 million - and then donate the treasures to the city. 
 "I think that this will be an exceptional gift to the city on the occasion of its tricentennial," he said, referring to the upcoming city anniversary in 2003. 
 Sevenard is the great grandson of Matilda Kshesinskaya's brother and was informed about the hiding places by descendants of the Romanovs in France.
 But Sevenard would not reveal his sources, saying only that he spoke with them while on a trip to France in the early 1990s.
 Sevenard had the opportunity to confirm this information this fall when the museum underwent repairs on its utilities systems.
 Then two of the hiding places were discovered, which confirmed the information of Sevenard's contacts.
 "Until now, I hadn't had the opportunity to verify the information. Now that the opportunity has presented itself, we have conducted the necessary work and understand that it has real meaning," he said.
 "So far, we haven't dug up the valuables yet. The work will probably begin in August," pending approval from the Federal Ministry of Culture, Sevenard said. Sevenard was assured in a letter that the matter would be decided by summer's end.
 Sevenard's methods and motives have rankled critics, who say that the mere existence of a supposed hiding place below the Russian Museum of Political History does not guarantee a treasure trove. 
 "I am almost positive that there is no treasure there, that this is some sort of mistake or legend," said Yevgeny Torshin, an archeologist at the State Hermitage Museum, which, along with the archeological arm of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been enlisted to conduct research on the matter.
 Torshin explained that if there is any treasure larger holes will likely have to be dug to accommodate removal. Crucial to that endeavor, said Torshin, is preserving all the so-called "cultural layers," which preserve "remnants of the life of that time." 
 Doubt runs thicker in the corridors of the Ministry of Culture, which Sevenard had counted on for support. 
 Anna Kolupayeva, the head of the Department of Museums at the Ministry of Culture, told the St. Petersburg Times that she is unconvinced that the treasure actually exists. 
 "There is no proof that something has been buried in this place. Sevenard just has his idea, he has not found anything real," she said in an interview on Thursday. 
 "This is a very romantic idea, but without proof or documents, we can't take any chances."
 According to Yevgeny Artyomov, the director of the Russian Museum of Political History, Kshesinskaya fled her estate during the February Revolution. From then on, "Revolutionary life was active here day and night through November of 1917."
 He said it would be impossible for Kshesinskaya to have buried her valuables, especially 10 to 20 meters below ground, with such activity taking place.
 "It's absurd. It's a fantasy. No treasures are located on the territory of the estate," he said in an interview Wednesday. "He won't find anything here." 
 Artyomov was even more irked by Sevenard's offer to donate the yet-to-be-discovered findings to the city.
 "In any case, everything there belongs to the state ... For that reason, Konstantin Yuryevich [Sevenard] will give something away that doesn't belong to him. He wants to give the state something that belongs to the state," said Artyomov. "What a beautiful political sacrifice."
 But Sevenard was equally scornful about his critics, chalking up their doubts to resentment toward Russia's imperial history and nostalgia for the Communist period.
 "They are all afraid of everything," Sevenard said with exasperation. "The specialists from the museum of the October Revolution [the museum's name during the Soviet period] have a particular view of history. We look at history differently. You can't call their point of view an objective one."
 Descendents of the royal family have also weighed in with consternation.
 One member of the dynasty, who was born in Paris and moved to St. Petersburg recently, said no one in the imperial circle had heard of Sevenard's treasure.
 "[They found it] very strange that no one abroad knew about this," said the royal descendent, who preferred to remain anonymous. "Who would be able to do this in the middle of the Revolution without other people knowing?" she asked.
 She also said the event revived old resentments regarding the royal emigration. Whereas thousands were forced to flee, Sevenard, despite his royal lineage, stayed through the Soviet period and thrived. 
 "During the Soviet period, he and his father were 100 percent communists," the source said. 
 Indeed, Yury Sevenard, Konstantin's father, a former Duma deputy and current member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, was a high-ranking engineer during the Soviet period. 
 "When the relatives of Kshesinskaya came here [during Soviet times, the Sevenards] always said, 'We don't know them,'" said the source. 
 "And now they say they're relatives. You understand, it's not proper. Now, for them it's a good advertisement ... it's fashionable now," she said. "It's all very convenient. Now that everyone has died, he can talk and no one can check."

TITLE: Nemtsov To Accept Gazprom's Radio Stake
AUTHOR: By Andrei Zolotov, Jr.

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Boris Nemtsov, leader of the liberal Union of Right Forces political faction, announced on Wednesday that he would accept Alfred Kokh's "gift" of a stake in Ekho Moskvy radio station, although he would not manage the stake himself, Interfax reported.
 Nemtsov said that he and Kokh, the chief executive officer of Gazprom-Media, which controls 52 percent of the station, would negotiate the terms of the deal and the size of the stake over the next 10 days. He said he did not intend to manage the stake on this own, but planned to transfer it in trust to a "council of people with spotless reputations."
 The proposal by the Gazprom-Media CEO came amid the collapse of a high-flying international conference on free speech in Russia. The forum, which was scheduled for this weekend in Moscow, turned out to be little more than a bargaining chip in talks between Gazprom-Media and Ekho Moskvy management about control of the station - the last piece of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media-MOST empire that has not yet been swallowed up by the state-controlled natural-gas giant.
 As the conference broke down on Tuesday, so did those talks. Gazprom and Ekho Moskvy accused each other of blackmail, and Kokh withdrew an earlier proposal to sell 9.5 percent of the station to its management. Instead, he offered to negotiate with Nemtsov, who backed the failed conference, to hand over as a gift "as many Ekho Moskvy shares as would be sufficient for preventing Gazprom-Media from becoming a controlling shareholder."
 Kokh accused Ekho Moskvy management of trashing the plan for the conference. "We were openly blackmailed by threats to break down the conference if we didn't do the deal," Kokh said in a biting statement carried by Interfax.
 Gazprom-Media spokesperson Aelita Yefimova, the main organizer of the conference, said that its aim was "an open dialogue."
 Media watchers have gotten used to the failed deals and loud accusations between Gazprom and Media-MOST that marked their politically charged struggle over Media-MOST outlets earlier this year. That battle climaxed in April with Gazprom's takeover of NTV television.
 But this time around, a number of Russian and Western politicians, journalists and pundits got indirectly involved in the fresh round of talks by agreeing to participate in the failed conference titled "Freedom of the Press 2001."
 On paper, the conference looked enticing: It would be a forum bringing together leading Russian journalists from different camps, free-press advocates, Russian and Western politicians and political analysts to discuss the state of Russian media. Co-sponsored by an unlikely alliance between Gazprom-Media, Ekho Moskvy and the Union of Right Forces and booked at the posh Marriott Grand Hotel, it was supposed to include a direct-broadcast linkup with oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
 But after a Moscow court decision last week confirmed Gazprom-Media's right to a 25 percent-plus-one-share stake in each of the media outlets that once belonged to Media-MOST- giving the company a 52 percent stake in Ekho Moskvy - party favors didn't seem appropriate and the invitation list shrunk. 
 The Union of Journalist's general secretary, Igor Yakovenko, who was scheduled as a main speaker, said that having Gazprom-Media organize a conference on free speech would be like having serial killer Andrei Chikatilo organize a conference on the problems of youth.
 "We don't want to take part in laundering Gazprom-Media's filthy image," Glasnost president Alexei Simonov said on Tuesday.
 Both Nemtsov and Kremlin aide Sergei Yastrzhembsky said on Tuesday that Ekho Moskvy must remain independent.

TITLE: Salvation Army To Face Autumn Court Hearing
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - A local court has set a date for a trial into the city's bid to shut down the Salvation Army's activities here, renewing concerns about religious freedom in Russia.
 The Moscow government says the Salvation Army did not register on time and failed to report its activities regularly to authorities. But the missionary group, which operates soup kitchens and other charity works, says its troubles stem from a strict 1997 religious law championed by the Russian Orthodox Church.
 The Tagansky District Court in Moscow will hear the case, brought by the Justice Ministry's Moscow branch, on Sept. 11, Judge Svetlana Grigoreva announced.
 Several groups have had troubles since the passage of the religion law, which sets strict registration rules for all but the three "traditional" religious groups in Russia: Russian Orthodoxy, Judaism and Islam.
 Captain Adam Morales, a spokesperson for the Salvation Army, conceded this week that his group had not submitted an annual report to authorities since 1999, and that it had not been able to register until February - after the Dec. 31, 2000 deadline.
 Still, he said the group had been in regular communication with justice officials over its registration woes.
 "We sent them documents every month and we talked to them. How do they not know that we exist?" he said in exasperation.
 The Salvation Army was denied registration in Moscow in 1999 and then sued, to no avail. It then took the case to the European Human Rights Court in Strasbourg, which on May 22 accepted it for consideration, Morales said.
 Vladimir Zhbankov, a Justice Ministry official, insisted the case was purely a legal issue.
 "We do not reject anyone for ideological considerations. The main thing for us is observance of our laws," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
 The Salvation Army operated briefly in tsarist Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, and returned after the 1991 Soviet collapse. It is also active in other Russian regions, where it has not had serious registration troubles. Those chapters will not be affected by a verdict in the Moscow case.
 Yelena Speranskaya, a spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow patriarchate, denied that the church was behind the Salvation Army's legal troubles. But she added that the Orthodox Church regards humanitarian activities by the Salvation Army as "an attempt to win over believers," Interfax reported.

TITLE: Alfyorov To Head Nuclear-Waste Committee
AUTHOR: By Charles Digges

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Along with giving his approval of a controversial nuclear-waste import law, President Vladimir Putin named local Nobel laureate Zhores Alfyorov to head a special committee that will oversee implementation of the project.
 Putin signed the law, which allows Russia to accept spent nuclear fuel for storage and reprocessing, at the Kremlin on Wednesday. Alfyorov's Committee for Issues on Reprocessed Nuclear Fuel is envisioned as a public information clearing house on the project, as well as a safety watchdog. 
 "The creation of this commission is not to calm fears, but rather to move in the direction of society to review the issues surrounding the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel," Alfyorov told a press conference at the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Wednesday.
 According to Nuclear Power Ministry officials, shipments of spent nuclear fuel could begin arriving in about a year.
 Alfyorov, who is a Communist Duma deputy, has championed Russia's decaying scientific infrastructure since his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for physics in December. He has stated that he sees the waste-import program promoted by the Nuclear Power Ministry as crucial to solving that problem. 
 If the imports go ahead as planned, proponents of the law say that Russia could earn $20 billion over the next 10 years by importing about 20,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. The imported fuel is due to be stored until 2021 while Russia upgrades its reprocessing facilities with money earned from exporters such as Taiwan, Japan, China, and Iran.
 But despite its success in the Duma and the Federation Council, the law has been vociferously opposed by Russian citizens and environmentalists, who have revealed their distaste for the project in demonstrations and polls. Opinion polls have consistenly shown that about 90 percent of the public opposes the plan.
 Vladimir Slivyak, chairman of the environmental group Ecodefense, said in a telephone interview from Moscow on Thursday that the project "will turn Russia into the world's nuclear toilet." Opponents also say that rampant corruption and Russia's spotty nuclear-safety record cast doubt on the country's ability to handle the spent fuel safely. 
 The U.S. State Department criticized the law and demanded that strict safety measures and audits be put in place, said a department official by telephone, who declined to be named on Wednesday.
 While conceding he had "no idea" how the money for imports would be accounted for, Alfyorov promised transparency, and said he "trusts implicitly his colleges at the Nuclear Power Ministry" who will be handling the finances. 
 Alfyorov will head a 20-person committee responsible for overseeing all deals under the law, and which will be empowered to reject those it considers dangerous. However, in making such judgments, the committee will rely on information provided by the ministry.
 Although the rest of the committee has not yet been named, the presidential order stipulated that it include 20 people - five from Putin's administration and an equal number from each of the government, the Duma and the Federation Council. It is unclear when the committee will meet for the first time. 
 But the 71-year-old Alfyorov - although enthusiastic - demurred at his appointment, citing his partiality to solar energy as a clean and potentially inexhaustible source of energy. He said that he saw his acceptance of the appointment as a choice between the lesser of two evils, and voiced the hope that some of the money expected from the import project could finance solar experiments.
 "As energy options, solar power is the cleanest. But the law [on importing nuclear waste] is the law," said Alfyorov.
 "No research money is being devoted to solar power, so I took this position because nuclear power is the next cleanest thing available. The 21st century is the century of nuclear energy, not only in Russia but around the world."
 Alfyorov also confessed to his own lack of experience in nuclear physics. His Nobel work, completed 20 years ago, involved the use of semiconductors and led to the development of such inventions as compact-disc players and mobile telephones.
 Nuclear Power Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said at a Moscow press conference on Wednesday that the first loads of waste could begin arriving in a year, although media reports indicated some shipments are already on the way or may even have already arrived. 
 "We are in contact with foreign colleagues on this issue, but have no concrete customers at the moment," said Rumyantsev, according to Interfax. 
 "We hope that during that time we can actively work on further safety improvements in our handling of nuclear waste," he said, adding that Russia could possibly corner 10 percent of the nuclear-waste reprocessing business by 2005. 
 Rumyantsev also welcomed the creation of Alfyorov's oversight committee, albeit with faint praise.
 "We're not going to discuss [the law], we are just going to fulfill it," Rumyantsev said. "The law signed by the president supports this home-grown production of nuclear fuel. And now, customers abroad will know that Russia will take its used fuel back."
 Rumyantsev said that France and Britain have carved up the market for depleted nuclear fuel, and Russia will have to fight to secure a share. Reprocessed fuel can be used again, leaving small quantities of unusable radioactive waste.
 The Nuclear Power Ministry is notorious for its reticence and secrecy. Rumyantsev's predecessor, Yevgeny Adamov, who authored the import plan, was fired in March following allegations that he had illegally continued to engage in business activities and had used his post to appoint his unqualified business associates to ministry positions. 
 This, according to the Greenpeace Moscow project coordinator Vladimir Chuprov, accounts for Alfyorov's cool reception by Rumyantsev and his own misgivings about the project. "Nothing about the Nuclear Power Ministry, especially its finances, is transparent, and Alfyorov is a liar or a fool if he thinks he can change that," Chuprov said in a telephone interview from Moscow. 
 "It is all a public-relations stunt, trying to make people think a 'civilian' organization will have some say in the process, when it has already been stated that all positions in Alfyorov's committee go to government suits."
 Greenpeace has called for a national candlelight vigil to protest the passage of the law for 10 p.m. on Thursday. Chuprov said he expected "hundreds of thousands" to turn out.

TITLE: French Expat Community Gears Up for Bastille Day
AUTHOR: By Claire Bigg

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Although the city is home to just a few hundred French citizens, Bastille Day - France's annual commemoration of its 1789 revolution - will be duly celebrated here on Friday and Saturday. 
 All those who are wary of revolutionary activities should be reassured: Celebration organizers do not plan to bring out the guillotine. Instead, the festivities will emphasize greater contact and sharing between the French expatriate community and their Russian hosts. 
 This year's highlight is the ball of the Alliance Française - France's institute for culture and language - which is celebrating its 10th year in St Petersburg. Oleg Bukhovsky of the Alliance Française said that the ball would be an "all-night event," devoted to Bastille Day and to the institute's 10th birthday. "It is open to everyone. For this special occasion, we have rented out the entire Baltiisky Dom [near Gorkovskaya metro station], and the party will run through the night until 6 a.m." Bukhovsky said. 
 Celine Viala, a French student spending the summer in St. Petersburg, said she was looking forward to celebrating Bastille Day in Russia. "I love July 14 in France," she said. "There is always a friendly atmosphere. Celebrating it here should be fun, although there will be none of the traditional fireworks."
 The ball will open with the Benjamin Moussay French jazz trio, followed by a bilingual performance entitled, "How We Took the Bastille," by the St. Petersburg theatrical company Labo.
 Latecomers will still be able to enjoy other performances by the Royal Giraffe Russian contemporary ballet and the St. Petersburg circus. Starting at 11 p.m., the entire first floor will be transformed into a disco organized by Europa Plus radio. 
 For Boris Catouar, the head of the Poste d'Expansion Economique, Bastille Day will be celebrated far from the crowds. "The ball is aimed mainly at young people. I will not attend it myself, but I have two trainees who will probably go. I will attend the consul's reception the next day, like every year," he said.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Moscow Bomb Trial
 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Five men went on trial in Stavropol on Tuesday in connection with two Moscow bombings that killed more than 200 people.
 The trial began behind closed doors amid tight security in a prison colony outside the southern town of Stavropol, about 250 kilometers west of Chechnya. The five are charged with smuggling explosives in sacks of sugar from Karachayevo-Cherkessia to Moscow in preparation for the September 1999 blasts. No one has been charged with planting the bombs that went off at night in two Moscow apartment blocks.
 "The documents of the criminal case to be presented by the state prosecutors ... give us grounds to say that the defendants have indeed committed these crimes," regional prosecutor Vladimir Romanov told RTR television. Proceedings are likely to last at least three months.
 
 
Pasko Case Reopened
 

VLADIVOSTOK, Far East (Reuters) - Journalist Grigory Pasko, who was acquitted of high treason in 1999, went on trial again in a Vladivostok military court on Wednesday, accused of passing state secrets to Japan while probing the ecological impact of the Russian Navy.
 The same court acquitted Navy captain Pasko of treason in July 1999, but found him guilty of a lesser charge: abusing his authority as an officer by handing over classified information while working with Japanese news outlets.
 The court immediately freed him on an amnesty. But Pasko objected to his conviction, and prosecutors protested both his release and his acquittal on the treason charge, so the case has now been reopened.
 
 
Queen Sofia To Visit
 

MOSCOW (AP) - Spanish Queen Sofia will visit St. Petersburg later this month at the invitation of conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, Governor Vladimir Yakovlev said on Monday.
 Yakovlev was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying that Sofia, wife of King Juan Carlos, would pay her first visit to Russia from July 18 to 21. Sofia's family tree includes seven Russian tsars.
 
 
Better Late ...
 

MOSCOW (AP) - A man has turned himself in to police 40 years after stabbing a passer-by to death during an attempted street robbery, but he is unlikely to face any punishment, Izvestia reported on Tuesday.
 Sergei Moiseyev surprised Interior Ministry officials in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, when he confessed to slaying Ahmetmansur Nurgaleyev, then a 36-year-old worker, in August 1961.
 Officials could hardly locate case files in the archive, and they sent the 55-year-old Moiseyev to psychiatrists, who deemed him perfectly sane. Moiseyev said his conscience would not let him live in peace. The Tatarstan Region Supreme Court began looking into the case on Monday.
 
 
Seed-Pod Fires
 

ARKHANGELSK, Far North (SPT) - The mayor of Arkhangelsk, in northern Russia, has declared a state of emergency because of an explosive invasion of poplar-tree seed pods, known in Russian as pukh, Interfax reported.
 As beautiful as pukh may be to some, it is also highly flammable, according to Arkhangelsk state fire inspector Irina Budnik. She said that piles of the cotton-like substance gathered on the street can burn like gunpowder, setting fire to houses, stores and automobiles, Interfax reported. So far this summer, firemen have been summoned to 165 fires, the news agency said. 



TITLE: Military May Back Off 'Cleanup' Tactics
AUTHOR: By Oksana Yablokova and Yevgenia Borisova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The controversy surrounding last week's federal operation in two Chechen villages has been mounting, with various government and military officials making contradictory statements about the incidents.
 General Vladimir Moltenskoi, the commander of armed forces in the North Caucasus, backed away from earlier statements acknowledging that his troops had committed "widespread crimes" in sweeps of two Chechen villages last week. 
 Addressing subordinate officers on Wednesday at the main military base at Khankala, just east of Grozny, Moltenskoi had been unusually frank. "Those who conducted searches in Sernovodsk and Assinovskaya did so in a lawless fashion, laying the place to waste and then pretending they knew nothing about it," Itar-Tass quoted him as saying.
 By evening Moltenskoi appeared to have decided he had gone too far, saying: "I cannot speak of crimes per se but about violations ... in the ranks. Everything was planned correctly and carried out properly. Some violations were committed."
 According to residents and local Chechen officials, troops rounded up about 1,500 men and boys in the two villages last week and took them to makeshift "filtration" centers, where they were beaten and tortured with electric shocks. Homes were looted and a school and hospital were destroyed.
 The troops, who ostensibly were looking for rebels, arrived in 100 armored personnel carriers with the identifying numbers covered over, The New York Times reported, citing dozens of witnesses.
 An investigation was opened, and Chechen Deputy Prosecutor Alexander Nikitin said on Wednesday that evidence has been found that some residents of Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk were beaten. But he said it was too early to say whether servicemen had broken the law and whether any troops would be punished, Interfax reported.
 The operations, known as <i>zachistki, </i>provoked such outrage from local Chechen officials that Viktor Kazantsev, a general who is the presidential envoy to the Southern Federal Region, apologized to them for the behavior of federal troops. His words carried additional weight because he had led the assault on Chechnya in 1999.
 Kazantsev was called in to talk to four local administrators who were threatening to quit, and persuaded them to stay on by promising that the investigation into the abuses in the villages of Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk would be completed by Saturday and by next Monday those who are found responsible will be punished, one of the administrators said. &quot;I asked the administration leaders for forgiveness,&quot; Kazantsev later told reporters.
 The Kremlin Chechnya spokesperson, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, speaking Wednesday on television, said the military might reconsider the very practice of the zachistki. On Thursday, though, federal troops searched three more Chechen villages for rebels, The Associated Press reported. At least 20 people were detained in one of the villages, Starye Atagi, the AP reported, citing an unidentified official in the pro-Moscow Chechen administration.
 Chekalin said the military planned to switch from the use of wholesale sweeps to &quot;pinpoint operations&quot; like the one in which warlord Arbi Barayev was killed. 
 In an operation Tuesday, federal troops killed Abu Umar, a Saudi-born explosives specialist employed by the rebels to train bombers, Interfax reported. He was shot in the village of Alkhoi-Mokhk in the Kurchaloi District.
 Akhmad Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed administrator for all of Chechnya, said Monday the troops' actions during the operations were &quot;criminal&quot; and demanded an investigation. He had never before spoken so vehemently about abuses committed against the civilian population by the military.
 &quot;Peaceful civilians were physically abused, humiliated and robbed,&quot; Kadyrov told reporters in Grozny. But no rebels were detained and no weapons or explosives found, he said. Kadyrov also accused the soldiers of stealing money from hospitals and schools.
 Later the same day, the chief military prosecutor ordered an investigation, and Tuesday two criminal cases were opened - for Assinovskaya and Sernovodsk - and two groups of Chechen investigators started their work, Interfax reported.
 On Tuesday, Yastrzhembsky said some violations already had been confirmed. &quot;A preliminary investigation has shown that there have been certain violations,&quot; he said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
 Yet Monday night, four Chechen administrators - including the mayors of the two villages and the administrator of the Sunzhensky District where the two villages are located - were summoned to Grozny for a meeting with representatives of the FSB, General Staff and Interior Ministry. Kazantsev's representative was also present.
 &quot;They talked to us as if we were worse than the bandits,&quot; said Shamil Burayev, who heads the administration of the neighboring Achkhoi-Martan district in western Chechnya. &quot;They said we were lying about the atrocities,&quot; he said by telephone Tuesday evening. &quot;They wanted to put the blame ... for the abuses committed by their officers ... on us, saying that the administration serves both sides and that we steal.&quot;
 After the meeting, the four Chechen officials decided to quit. The mayors, Nazarbek Terkhoyev of Assinovskaya and Vakha Arsamakov of Sernovodsk, had tried to resign earlier in the week but were asked to stay. They announced their resignation again Monday and were joined by Burayev and Khizir Vitayev, who heads the Sunzhensky administration.
 Burayev said 12 mayors in his district would also resign. Burayev, formerly a Moscow-based businessman, appears to be a highly respected administrator in Chechnya. He has headed his region since 1995 and assisted in the takeover of his region by federal troops in the current war.
 When Kadyrov failed to deter the four local officials, they were called back to Grozny on Tuesday to meet with Kazantsev.
 Oleg Orlov, who heads the Memorial human rights organization, said Tuesday that out of 302 criminal cases opened in Chechnya against the federal troops, 212 have been closed because no one was to blame.
 Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov said last week that the measures in Sernovodsk and Assinovskaya were &quot;tough but necessary&quot; and carried out in accordance with the law on fighting terrorism.
 &quot;Nothing in that law says that beating up the population, torturing them or confiscating their property is legal,&quot; said Valentin Gefter, a lawyer and member of the Memorial board.

TITLE: Budanov Sent for Psychiatric Tests, Rape Facts Re-Examined
AUTHOR: By Ana Uzelac 

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - A military court in Rostov-na-Dony has decided to send Colonel Yury Budanov to Moscow for an additional psychiatric evaluation, in a move that could result in him being found emotionally unstable and set free.
 Budanov, who is charged with the abduction and murder of a young Chechen woman, is something of a hero to Russian nationalists. In the early weeks of his trial, which began in April, nationalists organized several demonstrations outside the courtroom. Moreover, he seems to enjoy the quiet support of Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who recently said he &quot;could understand&quot; the colonel's behavior &quot;under the circumstances.&quot;
 The court made its decision on Monday, just a few days after Judge Viktor Kostin said that the official forensic report - which the victim's family has always disputed - would have to be re-evaluated to determine whether the woman was raped, as the family insists. This raised serious doubts about the quality of the pre-trial investigations and indicated some determination on the part of the judge to conduct a fair trial.
 Budanov, who commanded a tank regiment in Chechnya, is accused of abducting 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva from her family's house in the village of Tangi-Chu in March 2000 and killing her a few hours later in his private quarters.
 Budanov is the only high-ranking officer to be charged with crimes against civilians during the current war.
 According to press reports, the decision to send Budanov to Moscow for psychiatric examination was made at the demand of a military psychiatrist who observed him during the trial. The psychiatrist, Leonid Pustovalov, said that neither of two previous evaluations could answer the question of whether Budanov killed the girl in a fit of rage, Kommersant reported on Tuesday. Pustovalov implied Budanov might have had mental problems that made him unfit to serve in Chechnya and that a new evaluation could lead to some of the charges against him being dropped, the newspaper said.
 Budanov's lawyers were not available for comment on Tuesday.
 Kungayeva's relatives also want a new psychiatric evaluation, although for the opposite reason, said one of their lawyers, Stanislav Dmitriyevsky. They think the psychiatrists who did the initial examinations were mistaken when they said Budanov was &quot;temporarily unaccountable&quot; for the few minutes that it took to strangle the girl, he said.
 Budanov has admitted he killed Kungayeva, but has repeatedly changed his story since questioning began more than a year ago.
 Excerpts from the indictment published in Novaya Gazeta earlier this year showed that he failed to give any coherent explanation of why he killed Kungayeva when first questioned. Later, however, he told investigators he was tipped off that the woman was a sniper who had killed several of his unit's soldiers near the town of Duba-Yurt the previous month. During questioning another time, he said it was the woman's mother who was the suspected sniper.
 The allegations of rape, which Budanov denies, are the most controversial part of the case. The official forensic report signed by a military forensics expert on March 28, 2000, said that the body bore signs of rape, but it was impossible to say whether this happened before or after her death. But another forensic report - signed by the same expert on the same day and presented to the court by the woman's father - said Kungayeva was raped and sodomized an hour before she died.
 Last Friday, the judge asked for the forensic evidence to be re-evaluated, although without exhuming the body. Budanov has not been charged with rape. If convicted of manslaughter, he could face as little as three years in prison. If he is determined to have acted in a fit of rage he could even be released from the courtroom at the end of the trial.
 Judge Kostin said that the evaluation would be done in the military department of the Serbsky Psychiatric Institute in Moscow. The evaluation, according to press reports, could take up to four months.

TITLE: Crash Probe Describes Last Seconds Of Tu-154
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The 145 people on board a doomed Tu-154 jet were violently spun around in circles for a harrowing 22 seconds while their plane spiraled from 800 meters to smash onto the ground belly-first, investigators said Tuesday.
 Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who heads a government commission investigating the disaster, said that pilot error was to blame for the July 3 crash of the Vladivostokavia airliner as it was preparing to land at the Irkutsk airport on a scheduled stop between Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok. &quot;The crash occurred because the crew unintentionally took the plane to a wide angle of attack, which sent the plane into a spin until it crashed,&quot; Klebanov told reporters in announcing the preliminary results of an investigation into the crash.
 Klebanov said that the co-pilot, Sergei Didenko, was at the controls when the plane began a turn to come in for landing. The decision to let the co-pilot take the controls was not unusual, he said. But then Didenko inexplicably raised the nose of the aircraft, setting off an automatic warning system that the plane was on a dangerous course. At that point, Klebanov said, panic broke out in the cockpit. 
 Flight commander Valentin Goncharuk ordered the engines at full throttle when the plane began to go out of control at 800 meters. Eleven seconds later, the plane went into a flat spin that even the most experienced pilot would not have been able to pull out of, officials said. &quot;The plane hit the ground with its engines running at full takeoff speed. Not even a test pilot could have pulled out of such a dive,&quot; said Rudolf Teimurazov, deputy head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, which investigates major air crashes in the former Soviet Union.
 &quot;In a spiral like this, both the crew and the passengers are subject to constant changes in pressure, side to side and back and forth, completely unlike normal flying, even in a rough maneuver or turbulence,&quot; Teimurazov said.
 Klebanov refused to disclose the pilots' last words. He emphasized that although the report is preliminary, the finding that pilot error was to blame would not be changed. He also said that all of the plane's systems, equipment and engines were in normal working order. Weather and air-traffic conditions were also normal. &quot;The commission identified the cause of the crash,&quot; Klebanov said. &quot;Now we have to understand why it was that with the aircraft working absolutely adequately, with normal weather conditions and landing maneuvers that were not complicated, the actions of the pilots at a certain point became inadequate.&quot;
 It will take at least a month to find an answer to the puzzle, said Deputy Transport Minister Alexander Neradko.
 Officials rejected media reports that the Tu-154 crew was overworked. Klebanov said the pilots had taken a four-day break in Yekaterinburg before the flight. Neradko said that in the last month the captain had flown 59 hours and the co-pilot 41 hours, well under the maximum 80 hours permitted by law.
 Klebanov, however, said his commission was looking into whether Vladivostokavia had adequately trained the crew members.
 He said 137 of the 145 people aboard the Tu-154 have been identified. Seven of the nine crew members were buried with full honors in the cities of Vladivostok and Artyom on Tuesday. Eleven passengers were buried in Vladivostok as part of ongoing burials across the country.

TITLE: Aviation Standards Cause Rift With EU
AUTHOR: By Lyuba Pronina

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The government is threatening to restrict flights from the European Union if Russian airlines aren't granted an extension on new noise and emission standards that would effectively ban them from flying to EU countries.
 As of April 1, 2002 the EU will adhere to the new standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, and currently just 488 of the 6,540 planes flown by Russian carriers are compliant, according to the State Civil Aviation Service.
 Russian civil aviation authorities are asking the EU to exempt Russian passenger and cargo planes from the new standards because most airlines can't afford the costly upgrades, which can run as high as $15 million per plane.
 &quot;There will be no unilateral flights to the Russian Federation if restrictions are introduced against our airlines,&quot; said Deputy Transport Minister Pavel Rozhkov.
 Top Russian officials are using ICAO president Assad Kotaite's visit to Moscow this week as a chance to lobby their case, hoping he can help broker a compromise with the EU. Transport Minister Sergei Frank met with Kotaite on Thursday and Prime Minster Mikhail Kasyanov was scheduled to meet with him on Friday.
 Kotaite called the case &quot;extremely delicate and very complicated,&quot; but cautioned Russia against hasty retaliatory measures.
 &quot;I don't think it's healthy ... to respond with war measures,&quot; Kotaite said. &quot;This is why ICAO was established ... to find a way [to agree] on sound policy,&quot; he said. 
 The final verdict is expected to be announced at the ICAO's 33rd assembly in Montreal, which begins Sept. 25 and will include all 187 member states.
 The bulk of Russian passenger planes currently operating was built in the 1970s, and only the Il-96, Tu-204, Yak-42 and modified Tu-154M comply with the new requirements. The new rules would affect the vast majority of other models, including the workhorses Tu-134, Il-86 and Il-76 cargo carrier.
 About 241 Tu-154Ms, Il-62s, Yak-42s and An-124s require modifications to reduce noise levels.
 Aircraft like the Il-86, Il-76 and Tu-134 need entire engines replaced. Aviation authorities are looking to install new $2.5 million PS-90 engines on Il-76 and Il-86 models.
 &quot;But it's clear that we will not make it to April 1,&quot; said Viktor Samokhin, deputy head of the department of flight viability at the State Civil Aviation Service.
 &quot;We have 187 Il-76s, 74 Il-86s and 247 Tu-134s. The program of modernization for 2002 calls for replacing engines on 25 Il-76s, five Il-86s and 20 Tu-134s, but this work will be a big financial burden on our airlines,&quot; Samokhin said. New engines for the Il-76s and Tu-134s cost $15 million and $6 million respectively, he added.
 Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot, which has dozens of noncompliant craft in its fleet of 111, is gambling its future on Russia's ability to extend the deadline.
 &quot;We are not planning to invest money into their upgrade. It's futile - their lifetimes will expire very soon,&quot; a company spokesperson said. 
 Samokhin called on the ICAO's Kotaite to help forge a deal with the EU:
 &quot;For our companies, even with the support of the state, it's practically impossible to find financing in the time that remains, and therefore, Mr. President, we turn to you to somehow extend the flying period for planes that do not comply.&quot;

TITLE: Merger To Solidify Aluminum Giant
AUTHOR: By Simon Ostrovsky

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Shareholders of the raw-metals refinery Glinozyom and the aluminum producer Volkhovsky Aluminum Factory approved the merger of the two firms last week at a joint shareholders meeting, paving the way for both concerns to reap the benefits of a direct-supply process.
 Glinozyom, which refines raw bauxite into alumina, from which aluminum is produced, is already Volkhovsky Aluminum's chief supplier.
 The original announcement of the merger was made on March 23 in a press release from Aimet U.K., which owns 32 percent of Glinozyom and 50 percent of Volkhovsky Aluminum. Predpriyatiye LTR owns the other 50 percent of Volkhovsky Aluminum.
 The initial vote in the process of approving the merger was taken at a Glinozyom shareholders meeting held March 23. Ninety percent of those participating voted for the merger. By the time of the joint shareholders meeting last week, however, that number had jumped to 99.67 percent. Like Aimet, the Maltese firm Shanton International owns 32 percent of Glinozyom, while the Federal Property Fund holds a 20 percent stake and the remaining 16 percent of shares are in the hands of minority shareholders. This means that over 60 percent of minority shareholders - most of whom are workers at the company - voted against the deal.
 Following the meeting, Aimet announced that all minority shareholders who were still uneasy with the deal should &quot;sell off their assets at the March 23 market price of 444 rubles per share.&quot;
 Three hundred and forty shares - representing 14 percent of all stock - were sold to Aimet by private shareholders just before the July 2 joint meeting, rendering the vote in favor of the merger virtually unanimous
 &quot;The vote on the merger was mostly a formality, because most of the shareholders in both companies represent the same organizations,&quot; said Maria Nikolayeva, a spokesperson for Aimet U.K. Ltd. and Shanton International, which owns the other 50 percent stake in Volkhovsky Aluminum. &quot;The merger will help simplify the flow of materials from Glinozyom to the aluminum smelter.&quot;
 Analysts agreed that there were benefits to be reaped from the merger. &quot;The company will be able to optimize its taxes by selling itself raw materials at rock-bottom prices,&quot; said Lev Savulkin, senior analyst at the Leontief Center for Socio-Economic Research. &quot;Not only that, but it will have complete control over its raw materials and gain considerable political clout as a big player.&quot;
 Nikolayeva said that both companies will continue to exist as separate organizations, but will be affiliated with one another through a newly created company, Metallurg, which will be registered this fall. &quot;We are now in the process of getting approval from the Antimonopoly Ministry,&quot; she said.
 Volkhovsky Aluminum is the second-largest aluminum producer in the Northwest Region, after Nadvoyetsky Zavod, which is 37 percent-owned by metals giant SUAL. SUAL's holdings make it Russia's largest aluminum producer after RUSAL, which, in turn, is the No. 2 aluminum producer in the world. Volkhovsky produces 20,000 tons and Nadvoyetsky 69,000 tons of aluminum per year.
 Glinozyom has a production capacity of 266,000 tons of alumina per year, and Nikolayeva says that this target is usually met. As it takes roughly two tons of alumina to produce one ton of aluminum, the majority of Glinozyom's production will still be sold outside the Metallurg union despite the merger.
 According to Nikolayeva, the rest of the alumina is either sent to Apotit, a company in Murmansk, in exchange for nepheline, which is used in the process of producing alumina from bauxite, or it is sold to Volgograd Aluminum Factory.
 The merger of the two firms also means that the Federal Property Fund's stake in Metallurg will be 14 percent, after it held 20 percent in Glinozyom.
 But Savulkin says that the government probably isn't concerned over the drop in its stake. &quot;They didn't have a 25 percent blocking share to begin with, so they have nothing to lose,&quot; he said.
 No one was available for comment at the Property Fund on Thursday.

TITLE: Land Code Set for Showdown
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The State Duma decided Wednesday to push through the controversial new Land Code before ending the summer session, and scheduled the second reading for Saturday.
 The proposed Land Code has been heavily amended since it passed in the first reading June 15, but it retains the most controversial provision: the right of foreigners to own land, although with some new restrictions.
 The code allows the sale of commercial and residential plots in cities and villages, which the government says is 2 percent of all Russian land. The even more sensitive issue of agricultural land has been left to future legislation.
 The code passed 251-22 in the first reading, but the session was raucous, with deputies chanting, coming to blows and the Communists and their Agrarian allies walking out in protest. Hundreds of Communist supporters gathered in front of the Duma with signs against the sale of land, especially to foreigners.
 The No. 2 Communist in the Duma, Valentin Kuptsov, said the faction has not decided on how it will act Saturday, Interfax reported.
 Irina Zakharova, spokesperson for the Duma property committee, said that hundreds of amendments were proposed after the first reading and 500 of them were approved by the committee at a seven-hour session on Monday.
 An amendment put forward by Agrarian leader Mikhail Lapshin that would restrict foreigners to leasing land was rejected.
 Instead, the amendment to be discussed Saturday says that &quot;foreign citizens and stateless persons cannot own a plot of land in an area near the border or in regions specially listed by the president,&quot; Zakharova said, reading it over the telephone. The specifics were unclear.
 In passing the code in the first reading, deputies had agreed to reconsider the right of foreigners to own land.
 The Economic Development and Trade Ministry, however, considers the most complicated issue to be determing the price of the land plots under privatized enterprises.
 Deputy Minister Alexander Maslov told Interfax the government believes the land price to have been included in the price of the enterprise sitting on it, so realistic rates for the plots should not exceed 10 times the land tax on the plot. Some deputies, who believe that the plots under enterprises must be sold at the market price, oppose this approach.
 But Maslov said, &quot;From the point of view of the government, this could block purchases of plots, and even if they take place, the prices will leave our industry without working capital and reduce investment opportunities.&quot;
 Even supporters of the legislation say that the extreme haste in which it is being pushed through could lead to problems in the future.
 &quot;The impression is created that as a result the project will be passed without any serious changes, with all its current absurdities, which will seriously complicate the work of participants in the real estate market,&quot; Andrei Lazarevsky of the Yabloko faction said in a statement.
 But opponents say that the Land Code should not be passed at all on Saturday because of opposition in the regions.
 Under an obscure federal law passed in 1999, if &quot;organs of state authority&quot; in one-third of the 89 regions oppose a bill before the Duma, it must go to a conciliatory committee and then go through the first reading again - exactly how the Labor Code bill was treated.
 Nikolai Kalinin, chief of staff of the Duma's agriculture committee, said that 44 regional legislatures had expressed their opposition to the draft code, of which 35 had fulfilled the legal requirements in submitting their assessments.
 There may be other legal problems for the Duma to tackle. Speaker Gennady Seleznyov warned about a Duma regulation that was neglected in setting the date for Saturday: Only 29 days, and not the required 30, have passed since the bill was passed in the first reading.
 Deputies also will not have the guaranteed three days to study the amendments, which the property committee says will be ready for dissemination only on Wednesday evening.
 Federation Council Speaker Yegor Stroyev noted yet another violation. He warned the Duma that the three weeks for deputies to submit amendments were not enough, since the Constitution stipulates that they be given four weeks.

TITLE: Slavneft Finds Giant Field, Bigger Transport Problem
AUTHOR: By Anna Raff

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Out in Eastern Siberia, Oleg Puzanov knew it was there. He also knew that it was up to his team to find it.
 On July 3 they did, and it was bigger than expected.
 That morning, Puzanov received a telephone call from the Kuyumbinskoye oil field in the Krasnoyarsk Region. On the other end was news that Slavneft's well No. 217 had blown a &quot;fountain,&quot; a rapid flow of oil of which legends are made.
 &quot;It was more than just a joyous occasion,&quot; said Puzanov, who directs one of Slavneft's exploration subsidiaries. &quot;This proves without a doubt there is real, profitable oil in Eastern Siberia. But now comes the difficult question: How are we going to get it out?&quot;
 Well No. 217 has a flow rate of 500 tons, or 3,650 barrels, per day, 30 times higher than Russia's average, Slavneft officials said. Because the company is still exploring its licensed territories, all oil found is being burned.
 For now, there is nowhere to put it. The closest sign of civilization is hundreds of kilometers away, and more important, so is Transneft's pipeline that could feed this oil to other parts of Russia and beyond.
 &quot;It will take half a billion dollars to get a pipeline out there,&quot; said vice president Andrei Shtorkh.
 And that's just the pipeline. To build a basic infrastructure - including roads, railroads and pumping stations - Slavneft will have to find $1.5 billion. This is a tall order for Russia's eighth-largest oil company, which posted a $320 million profit last year.
 Slavneft, whose controlling shareholder is the government, is already in negotiations with No. 2 Yukos and may form a production alliance in Eastern Siberia.
 Earlier this year, Yukos acquired a controlling stake in East Siberia Oil Co. and plans to invest billions of dollars in the region.
 &quot;We have been talking to Yukos through informal working groups for some time,&quot; Shtorkh said. &quot;Perhaps it's time for something more official.&quot;
 Slavneft also hopes to attract major Western players, which the company deems necessary for a project of this size. Recoverable reserves in the region are estimated at 365.7 million tons, or 2.7 billion barrels.
 Oil was struck in the region as early as 1977, but all exploratory work was stopped in 1982 after Soviet geologists drilled a series of wells that offered no oil.
 In 1996, Slavneft won a tender for licenses to several blocks in the Krasnoyarsk region and has so far spent $70 million on exploratory work.
 &quot;This fountain is a sign for the industry,&quot; said Slavneft vice president Sergei Bakhir. &quot;We're moving east.&quot;

TITLE: Audit: Itera-Gazprom Ties Are Above Board
AUTHOR: By Anna Raff

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The Audit Chamber said on Tuesday that its investigation into the relationship between Itera and Gazprom had uncovered no legal violations.
 This finding corresponds to the results of an earlier audit conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a Big Five firm and Gazprom's official auditor, in which PwC could not confirm whether or not top Gazprom managers were ever shareholders in Itera Group.
 &quot;What's the difference?&quot; said Steven Dashevsky, an analyst with the Aton brokerage. &quot;No one believes the Audit Chamber anyway. The connection between Gazprom and Itera has been obvious for a very long time.&quot;
 Audit Chamber auditor Mikhail Bekhmelnitsyn said the companies' relationship was one of &quot;unrelated legal entities.&quot;
 &quot;We are 100 percent sure of this,&quot; Bekhmelnitsyn told Interfax.
 The State Duma is scheduled to review the entire report in about a week, the chamber said.
 During the audit, the chamber decided to look at three gas-extraction companies that Itera acquired from Gazprom: Purgaz, Rospan International and Tarkosaleineftegaz. Auditors found that Itera - founded in Turkmenistan and registered in Jacksonville, Florida - satisfied all the conditions of its contracts with the gas monopoly.
 Investors have not disputed Itera's willingness to fulfill its side of the contracts. Boris Fyodorov, a Gazprom board member and advocate for minority shareholders, called attention to the actual contracts themselves.
 In the case of Rospan, documents obtained by The St. Petersburg Times show that Gazprom sold a controlling stake in the independent producer to Itera for $300 after a forced bankruptcy. Rospan is estimated to have $9 billion worth of reserves.
 It's common sense that companies don't usually sell gas fields and licenses for such a low price, Dashevsky said.
 Itera is not the only company accused of abetting asset stripping at Gazprom. Documents show that billions of dollars of the gas giant's assets ended up in the hands of managers' family members through the Hungarian-registered Interprocom.
 The chamber investigation also found that Gazprom and Itera owe each other large sums of money for the provision of gas transport services. At the beginning of the year, Itera owed Gazprom 13.54 billion rubles ($477.5 million), while Gazprom owed Itera $34 million.
 Itera, which produced 24 billion cubic meters of oil last year, has long insisted that it has nothing to hide in its dealings with Gazprom, which produces 25 percent of the world's gas.
 &quot;No transfer of funds or assets from Gazprom to Itera was found because such things never occurred,&quot; Itera president Valery Otchertsov said last week. He added that Gazprom had a $123 million debt to Itera, which explained the 5.5 billion rubles ($188 million) in financial guarantees by Gazprom on its behalf.
 The report by the Audit Chamber, the Duma's budgetary watchdog, won't make much of a wave because the market is poised for the release of the plan to liberalize Gazprom's stock, Dashevsky said.
 The working group on share liberalization, formed in April, was supposed to submit its final proposals to President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. Gazprom shares are currently traded in two tiers. Foreigners can only buy Gazprom American Despositary Receipts and are prohibited from purchasing local shares, which trade at a 60 percent premium to ADRs.
 Analysts suspect that foreigners will be allowed onto the local market through an auction mechanism, and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller lent credibility to this guess earlier this week.
 In an interview published Sunday in a German newspaper, Miller said he is in favor of increasing foreign ownership from 11 percent to 20 percent, the legal limit.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Oblast Investment
 

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The Leningrad Oblast administration met representatives of more than 20 foreign and domestic banks on Wednesday to discuss the creation of a nonprofit investment-bank group.
 According to Vladimir Galinzyatsov, secretary of the working group set up by the administration to oversee the the creation of the investment-bank group, the organization "will serve as a conduit for investors to finance projects in the Leningrad Oblast."
 "At present, it is hard for investors to find a transparent bank for investments and regional banks have a hard time finding clients [who want] to invest," Galinzyatsov said.
 The working group plans to have the details of the project worked out in time to register the entity at the end of this month.
 
 
More Reform Ahead
 

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Johannes Linn said that judicial and legal reforms in Russia were moving in the right direction, but that there was still much to do in this field to support growth and development.
 "It is quite clear now, a decade later, that the countries of the region need to focus much more effort, not only on ensuring the development of clear and comprehensive legislation, but also on strengthening the capacity, independence, and accountability of the judicial system necessary to interpret and enforce the law," Linn said at a session devoted to regional issues at a World Bank conference here on Wednesday. "This is critical to laying the foundation for investment and growth in these transition countries that have been lagging behind."
 Linn identified the fight against corruption and the creation of a more independant judiciary as imperatives for economic development in the region.
 
 
Pensions To Rise
 

MOSCOW (AP) - Monthly pensions across Russia will increase 10 percent as of Aug. 1, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. 
 In addition to approving the increase, Putin signed an order establishing the minimum monthly pension at 600 rubles ($20), Zurabov said. Pensions to the 18 million pensioners last rose in May. The latest increase would bring average monthly pension payments to 1,135 rubles ($39), still below the subsistence income, estimated at 1,185 rubles ($40) this past spring. 
 
Golden Buys Back 
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Golden Telecom announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to buy back around 8 percent of its shares for $25 million from former parent company Global TeleSystems (GTS).
 Telecoms and Internet provider Golden Telecom assumed the buy-back option from its current shareholders. 
 In May, GTS closed a deal to sell around 50 percent of the company to a consortium led by Alfa Telecom Ltd., part of Alfa Group, for $125 million. The consortium had the option to buy more shares from GTS, which now has around 2.6 percent of the company.
 In order to effect the buy-back, Golden Telecom said that it would assume the option to buy the stock for $11 per share.
 "To the degree we undertake acquisitions that may involve the issuance of stock, this buy-back is designed to help minimize the dilutive effect of any such transaction," said Golden Telecom president and CEO Stewart Reich in a news release.
 Golden Telecom is in talks with national long-distance carrier Rostelecom to purchase a controlling stake in Sovintel, a leading Moscow alternative operator, whose ownership is split between Golden and Rostelecom. 



TITLE: Pyatyorochka Sets Its Sights on the Capital
AUTHOR: By Thomas Rymer

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: While Pyatyorochka is Russia's largest supermarket chain and one of St. Petersburg's most successful retail companies, until now it has never attempted to gain a foothold in the lucrative Moscow market. But all this is about to change, said chain director Sergei Lepkovich at a press conference Wednesday.
 Lepkovich said that the project represents a major opportunity for Pyatyorochka, which will open its first five outlets in the capital by the beginning of September, with a total of 10 slated to be operating by the end of the year.
 &quot;The penetration level for this type of store is already higher than it is in St. Petersburg, but the demand [in Moscow] still far outstrips the supply,&quot; Lepkovich said. &quot;Our strategy is very simple: We're going after a huge segment of the market in Moscow that has yet to be filled.&quot;
 The firm, which operates 51 stores in St. Petersburg and its suburbs, serves about 70 million customers per year, and projects revenues for 2001 between $170 million and $190 million, says that its Moscow-related revenues should hit $150 million per year by the end of 2002. Company officials refused to provide revenue figures for 2000.
 While a large number of the St. Petersburg stores are relatively small, five of the local outlets are what the chain calls &quot;Super-Pyatyorochkas&quot; with retail space of around 1,000 square meters, and the company plans to use the large-store format in developing a presence in Moscow.
 &quot;We expect to grab 13 percent of the supermarket business in Moscow, and think that this will come about without us really encroaching on the positions of those firms already operating there,&quot; Lepkovich said.
 Analysts agree that the Moscow market is under-served, and that the prospects for Pyatyorochka's expansion are good.
 &quot;This is a perfect strategy,&quot; said Alexei Krivoshapko, retail-sales analyst at United Financial Group. &quot;In the long term, supermarkets are the most efficient way to retail food and, at present, they represent only 8 to 10 percent of all sales in this market segment.&quot;
 &quot;In Poland, for example, that same number is about 40 percent, so there's definitely room for growth here.&quot;
 Lepkovich said that a major impetus behind making the move into the Moscow market now was to establish a presence ahead of Western chains.
 &quot;It's hard to predict, but I think that in time some Western firms will enter the market and competition with them will be tough, because in the West this business is already developed,&quot; he said. &quot;There are a number of companies that could set up chains in Moscow, but I don't foresee this happening right away.&quot;
 But competition in this form seems certain to come. The Ramstore chain, which is operated by Turkey's Ramenko, has already opened 50 stores in the capital, and such major European players as Germany's Metro and SPAR and Auchan of France have announced their intentions to open operations in Moscow as well.
 &quot;Size matters. Setting up stores of this size is pretty capital intensive, with floor space costing $200 per square meter and more,&quot; Krivoshapko said. &quot;The Western firms have an advantage in the form of capital available, as one of the most important factors for success in this business is the ability to build a critical mass.&quot;
 &quot;I think that it will probably be from two to five years before this happens, though,&quot; he added.
 According to Lepkovich, Pyatyorochka's investment in developing its Moscow business will total $6 million to start, with some of the money in the form of credits form both foreign and Russian banks.

TITLE: Canadian PM Visits
 As Oil War Heats Up
AUTHOR: By Anna Raff

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - On the eve of the Canadian prime minister's meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Tyumen Oil Co. has taken total control of an oil complex claimed by a Canadian producer.
 The war between TNK and Norex Petroleum has been raging since 1999, and this latest offensive by TNK could spell the end for the Canadian company's participation in Yugraneft Corporation.
 Yugraneft was founded in 1992 as a joint venture between Norex and Chernogorneft, a subsidiary in the center of another long-running dispute between TNK and Sidanco. The Canadian government gave the new company millions of dollars in guarantees to get started.
 Duncan Fulton, press attache for Prime Minister Jean Chretien, declined to say whether Yugraneft will be on the agenda for Friday's meeting.
 &quot;But it's fair to say that this issue is important,&quot; Fulton said. &quot;We'd like to see some resolution.&quot;
 Meanwhile, Yugraneft is using all &quot;diplomatic channels&quot; at its disposal, said Alex Rotzang, board chairman and majority owner of Yugraneft.
 &quot;I was told that the Canadian Embassy is putting this on 'high priority,'&quot; Rotzang said. The embassy has already issued a statement, calling TNK's actions &quot;an illegal confiscation of assets.&quot;
 On Wednesday, a local official in the Khanty-Mansiisk Autonomous Region gave TNK-installed general director Alexander Berman the official company &quot;stamp,&quot; which gives Berman the right to access all of Yugraneft's bank accounts. Yugraneft had about $64 million in revenues last year.
 &quot;They now have all the documents,&quot; Rotzang said. &quot;They're taking money out of our accounts. They put in a new financial director.&quot;
 Berman has also signed a contract to sell crude oil to TNK for a third of the market price.
 TNK argues that Norex failed to contribute the $5.8 million worth of charter capital that was officially registered upon Yugraneft's inception. Rather, the &quot;know-how&quot; Norex brought to the venture could have been found in any university textbook and was worth considerably less that the $5.8 million recorded on customs declarations, said one TNK lawyer.
 In furthering their cause, TNK had the Khanty-Mansiisk Arbitration Court freeze Norex's shares and promptly called an extraordinary shareholders meeting on June 28 to elect Berman to the post of general director.
 When Yugraneft was formed, Norex owned 60 percent and Chernogorneft had 40 percent. Later, after TNK took control of Chernogorneft, Norex's lawyers attacked and found that the latter never contributed its 40 percent. Chernogorneft's stake was then diluted to 2.36 percent, but the arbitration court overturned this decision in 2000.
 TNK plans to turn the tables on Norex later this month, when an expert commission will gather to determine Norex's stake. &quot;We plan to show the court that Norex's contribution was close to worthless,&quot; the lawyer said.
 Former general director Lyudmila Kondrashina said she didn't get operational support from the Khanty-Mansiisk Prosecutor General's Office during the takeover, even though they sent her a letter affirming that TNK's actions and the shareholders meeting were &quot;illegal.&quot;
 &quot;I hope that someone up above will solve this problem,&quot; Kondrashina said. &quot;This is, after all, a civilized society.&quot;

TITLE: Aeroflot Links Overshadow RusAl's Transparency Claims
AUTHOR: By Igor Semenenko

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russian Aluminum has presented its new corporate face - but had to answer the same old questions about shady business dealings.
 In his first news conference since being put in charge of international operations for the world's No. 2 aluminum producer, former deputy prime minister Alexander Livshits let it be known Tuesday that RusAl wants to tap Western markets and is prepared to improve its corporate transparency accordingly.
 &quot;I will talk to many top figures who will be arriving in Russia,&quot; Livshits said, mapping out plans to spend $500 million on upgrades over the next five years.
 Five Western banks have already signed off on a $125 million syndicated loan, and the company plans to tap the local market in October with a 2 billion ruble ($70 million) bond placement, after which it will begin to mull selling debt paper on international markets.
 But the question on everyone's mind was RusAl's relationship with the mysterious new owners of a blocking stake in flagship airline Aeroflot.
 The business daily Vedomosti reported Tuesday that one of RusAl's top managers, head strategist Alexander Komrakov, and three other businessmen close to the aluminum giant - Prospect brokerage's Mikhail Vinchel, Profit House brokerage's Alexander Nemtsov and Aeroflot board member Alexander Zurabov - are all on the list of candidates for the new Aeroflot board of directors.
 They were nominated by two unknown offshore companies that recently acquired a collective 29 percent of the national airline and forced an extraordinary shareholders meeting, scheduled for September, at which the new board will be elected.
 Both Livshits and RusAl spokesperson Vladimir Alexandrov denied the company owned any Aeroflot shares.
 Siberian Aluminium, a major shareholder in RusAl, also denied allegations it had anything to do with the airline. Profit House gave a &quot;no comment,&quot; while Prospect officials said Vinchel was on the list of candidates to represent the interests of minority shareholders.
 Analysts, however, said that no matter what RusAl says, it will always be suspected as long as Russia continues to have weak corporate governance and disclosure standards.
 &quot;Opacity remains one of the largest problems in the market,&quot; said Yelena Krasnitskaya, corporate governance analyst with the Troika Dialog brokerage. &quot;It is premature to talk about progress in this field.
 &quot;We should wait for fundamental changes in legislation, particularly anti-monopoly legislation,&quot; she added.
 Existing laws require companies to disclose only their nominal owners, and not the real owners, usually found at the end of a long chain of offshore entities.
 Last year, when the owners of oil major Sibneft went on a buying spree, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to snap up assets in the aluminum industry, the Antimonopoly Ministry opened an investigation, but found nothing.
 When the ministry eventually granted Sibneft shareholders, mainly Roman Abramovich, permission to merge their assets with Siberian Aluminium owner Oleg Deripaska, Russian Aluminum was created.
 &quot;Drawing a parallel, one can say that the acquisition of a blocking stake in Aeroflot will be announced not earlier than its owners get permission from anti-monopoly bodies,&quot; Krasnitskaya said.
 Tellingly, Sibneft also set out this week to improve its image after a series of contradictory reports about its ownership structure.
 The company announced the acquisition of two trading companies - Olivesta and Vester - by means of a share swap, in what clearly appears to be a measure aimed at improving its corporate image. According to Sibneft, one of the companies posted profits of $300 million.
 But the exact ownership structure of Sibneft remains a mystery. Sibneft reported at the end of June that Boris Berezovsky no longer owned shares in the company. How Berezovsky lost his stake, which the tycoon maintains he still has, was not made public.

TITLE: U.S. Media: Don't Believe Everything You Hear
AUTHOR: By Michael McFaul

TEXT: I had been invited by Boris Nemtsov from the Union of Right Forces and Alexei Venediktov from Ekho Moskvy to participate this weekend in a conference on freedom of the press in Russia, also co-sponsored by Gazprom-Media. When Venediktov informed me that he and his associates were withdrawing from this conference to protest the recent Gazprom takeover of the station, I decided to do the same. Here are excerpts of what I would have said. All the myths stated below are actual statements that Russians - senior governmental officials or opposition journalists - either have said to me personally or written in the press. These are assertions Russians have made to me in responding to my criticism of their press. 
 <strong>Myth 1:</strong> The U.S. government has never tried to control the press. Not true. Soon after the American Revolution, the U.S. Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act (eventually allowed to expire), which gave the federal government powers to suppress certain expressions of free speech that were considered threatening to national security. The Aurora, a Philadelphia newspaper, was the NTV of its time. Almost 200 years later, President Nixon used a similar pretext (unsuccessfully) to suppress the publication of the Pentagon Papers. 
 <strong>Myth 2:</strong> Oligarchs are not involved in the American news. The names Murdoch or Turner should be enough to destroy this myth. What is more striking, however, is how every major national television network is now owned by a multi-billion-dollar corporation.
 <strong>Myth 3:</strong> All points of view are represented in the American mainstream press. Not true. When was the last time you saw a Communist Party official appear on the opinion page of The New York Times? It was probably Gennady Zyuganov circa 1996. 
 <strong>Myth 4:</strong> All American journalists have a political bias or adhere strictly to the point of view dictated by the owners of the media. As myth 5 discusses, all reporting has a point of view, but not all media is devoted solely to furthering the political interests of its owners. A norm exists among many American journalists to try to report a story without representing a particular political perspective. Newspapers try to separate out opinion and reporting by printing a special opinion page that usually has editors who are independent of those editors responsible for the news. 
 <strong>Myth 5:</strong> All American journalists are neutral and just report the facts. Many try to, but cannot. Many others do not even try. All journalists have a perspective. The mere selection of what to write about already exposes part of this &quot;slant.&quot; Some media try to control such bias, but other openly promote it. Murdoch's Fox News Channel clearly has a conservative bent, just as he wants it. Dozens of cable television stations, tens of dozens of magazines, and hundreds of radio stations are devoted to providing particular points of view on the news - be it conservative, liberal, neo-conservative, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
 <strong>Myth 6:</strong> Media companies with debts are badly managed. Debt is a part of the American way. Start-up companies, be they in the media or other sectors, usually must carry debt and a lot of it. The notion that large debts are a sign of bad business management is simplistic. The Russian tragedy is that the state and state-controlled companies continue to be one of the main sources of acquiring debt/capital.
 <strong>Myth 7:</strong> American media companies must make profits to be successful media outlets. This one, perhaps the most often repeated by visiting Russians to the United States in the last few months, is not true in several respects. First, some of the most respected publications in the United States such as The New Republic, the Nation, the Weekly Standard, and the New Yorker have been in the red for decades. How do they stay afloat? Oligarchs give them money. Second, some of the best television and radio news in the U.S. (PBS' Newshour with Jim Lehrer and the Charlie Rose Show, NPR's All Things Considered, BBC's the World) do not make profits but must raise money from the government and private foundations to stay on the air.
 <strong>Myth 8:</strong> Big profits equals better journalism. The demand for increased-profits for media companies has produced lower quality news. Buyouts of local newspapers and radio stations by national conglomerates have produced smaller budgets for reporting and reporters. At the national television networks, the need to cut costs and raise profits has resulted in more entertainment rather than &quot;hard news&quot; in the national news broadcasts, and more cheap talking-heads shows rather than expensive investigative reporting. 
 <strong>Myth 9: </strong>All state-financed media serves the interests of the state. State-financed media do not serve the interests of the government in power, but rather the interests of the state defined broadly. Independent, bipartisan boards help to insulate public-financed media from governmental interference. Government officials do not sit on these boards. 
 <strong>Myth 10:</strong> American journalists do not publish unpleasant <i>(neprilichniye) </i>things about the president. Lewinsky? This claim is not serious enough to warrant a refutation. What is serious - seriously disturbing - is that a senior Russian government official recently tried to make this claim before a Washington audience. 
 <strong>Myth 11:</strong> An independent media and &quot;too much democracy&quot; get in the way of economic growth and foreign investment. This claim, while not directly aimed at the United States, indirectly exposes some false conceptions about the West and Russia. Of course, it is just downright silly to blame Russia's economic woes on the printing of Itogi magazine. Nor has there been a big upswing in either growth or foreign investment since its closure. This myth is generated by those who want Russia to be the next China. (Why a country with such a low GDP per capita is to be emulated has always been a mystery to me). What these comparativists leave out of their selective use of case studies is all the dictatorships that have not produced economic growth - Angola, Libya, Burma, Uzbekistan, or lest we soon forget, the former Soviet Union. Within the post-communist world, the correlation between democratization and economic growth is robust. And the independent media plays a central role in developing markets, be it in exposing corruption within the state or providing investors with good data about companies. 
 <strong>Myth 12:</strong> The George W. Bush administration wants to develop friendly relations with Vladimir Putin's government irrespective of what happens to press freedom within Russia. This simplistic readout of the Slovenia summit fails to distinguish between the short-term and long-term goals of the Bush administration. Of course, Bush wanted a good first meeting with Putin, and of course Bush wants Putin to bless his ideas about missile defense. But no one should have any illusions about long-term relations between the United States and Russia if an authoritarian creep in Russia eventually produces a full-blown dictatorship. President Bush and his foreign policy team have real concerns about how new setbacks in Russia's democratic development will impede the deepening of U.S. relations with Russia. Today, every major democracy in the world has a friendly relationship with the United States, while every American enemy - Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Cuba, and perhaps in the future China - is a dictatorship.
 Some of these myths have been generated to make the Putin regime look more sinister than it really is. Most have been invented to make the regime seem more benevolent than it really is. The explosion of myth-making, however, harkens back to a darker time in Russian history when Pravda wrote about the United States as a wasteland of poverty and crime, samizdat publications described America as paradise, and American professors had to make political decisions about whether to attend &quot;academic&quot; conferences in the Soviet Union.
 
 <i>Michael McFaul is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment and an associate professor and Hoover fellow at Stanford University. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times. </i>

TITLE: Alfyorov Can't Stop Sale of the Environment
TEXT: ALTHOUGH we've known for months now that things were coming to this, the final approval of the obscene plan to import nuclear waste for storage and reprocessing still comes as a heavy blow. President Vladimir Putin signed the measure on Wednesday, clearing the way for the Nuclear Power Ministry to begin the virtually unsupervised sale of the Russian environment.
 The facts of the case are simple. The Soviet and Russian nuclear programs have an appalling record of absolute disregard for safety and the environment. Hundreds of thousands of people - perhaps millions - are suffering today from this callous indifference. Many more have already died. 
 Now, the ministry has the temerity to use this history as an excuse for new atrocities, claiming that it will use part of the revenues generated to clean up the messes with which it has littered the country over the last half-century.
 What is more, 90 percent of the Russian people - both those who live in irradiated zones and those who, thankfully, so far do not - oppose this plan. Nonetheless, the country's democratically elected leaders have contemptuously ignored their views. 
 A petition to force a national referendum on the subject was quashed by the Central Elections Commission last November, in what was patently a successful effort to steamroll public opinion. This incident will go down as one of the low points of Russian democracy.
 Now, as a sort of cynical gesture that is being pitched as a sign of concern for the people's well-being, Putin has created an oversight committee and nominated local Duma deputy and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Zhores Alfyorov to head it. 
 Few doubt the sincerity of Alfyorov's commitment to excellence in Russian science. However, he must realize that such excellence depends at least as much on the wholehearted support of the public and the pride that the people take in the nation's achievements, as it does on state support or budgetary funding. 
 Alfyorov and his committee will not be able to ensure that the imported waste is properly transported and stored. He should take a lesson from the United States - a country with its own history of irradiating its citizens - which spent $6 billion just <i>studying </i>a proposed site for its nuclear-waste storage facility. 
 Alfyorov and his committee will not be able to ensure that any money earned is spent on clean-ups. No one has been able to force the Nuclear Power Ministry to spend the funds that Western governments have already given it for such purposes as they were intended.
 Environmentalists held a nationwide candlelight vigil last night. It would seem that, at this point, there is nothing else to do.

TITLE: Global eye
TEXT: <strong>Rearview Mirror 
</strong> Image from an enigmatic London billboard: A man's naked, hairy butt, poking through an innertube as he floats through the air. 
 What could it be? A scathing visual metaphor for the emptiness of New Labour? Yet another bold artistic salvo aimed at shocking the bourgeoisie? An off-beat ad for Preparation H? 
 Nope. It's just a British newspaper's cheeky way of illustrating the modern world's enslavement to commercial brands, those symbols of power that batter our senses thousands of times every day. 
 The picture appeared on billboards, posters and in full-page newspaper ads, with no accompaniment but these few words: &quot;Sing, laugh, eat, breathe, cry - but do it with Joy.&quot; At the bottom (so to speak), there was a telephone number and Web address. This week The Guardian admitted the campaign was an effort to gauge the power of corporate iconage: They had created a brand that was nothing but pure image - no product, no service, no people, nothing. 
 Calling in experts from the manipulation - er, marketing - industry, the paper employed &quot;feel-good&quot; fonts and hairy-legged bareness to evoke, as all brands must these days, an &quot;emotional attachment&quot; and &quot;a philosophy of life that says, 'Hey, that's me,'&quot; according to the Guardian's manip-marketing wizards, who have fashioned ad campaigns for everything from bottled water to the Tory Party to Ikea. (Obviously, a group with much experience in pushing empty ideas.) 
 However, the paper did forego their expert advice to hook up with a South Carolina firm of psychologists who test-market brands by &quot;hypnotizing focus groups and regressing them back to their childhoods&quot; to see which logo would most appeal &quot;to the long-suppressed needs of their inner three-year-old.&quot; 
 So did the Joy campaign work? Had Western culture really become so shallow and meaningless that a cynically concocted media image based on absolutely nothing could command the allegiance of dazed, rabid consumer hordes? 
 You ever heard of Britney Spears? <i>Of course </i>it worked! In just six days, the ad drew more than 1,500 enthusiasts ready to enthuse about - well, whatever the hell Joy was selling. &quot;I love the typography,&quot; said one respondent. &quot;I like the smile over the 'o.' It says to me: have fun, be good to yourself, things like that.&quot; 
 That's funny; it says something entirely different to us - something like, &quot;Hit me, baby, one more time.&quot; 
 
 <strong>All Ears 
 </strong>They say it's a mark of maturity and wisdom to be able to accept criticism and mend your ways accordingly. The Global Eye is sometimes berated for displaying a marked partisanship in its reports, an unwillingness to &quot;let other voices be heard,&quot; particularly from the right-hand side of the political spectrum. This horrible bias has led to a skewed portrait of the Bush administration as a sewer pit of cynical political machinations run by vicious apparatchiks scurrying to serve a doltish incompetent scandalously unfit for his high office. 
 But today, to all those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness, we say: We have heard your plaintive cry. We have listened, learned and - wisely, maturely - mended. Today we will let <i>conservative </i>voices ring out loud and clear: the voices of <i>real </i>Americans, giving their honest opinion of the Bush administration, unfiltered by the hidden agendas of the godless &quot;liberal media.&quot; 
 First up is The National Review, one of the oldest and most respected voices of American conservatism, recently celebrated for its call to have young Chelsea Clinton put to death to keep her from spreading the family &quot;taint.&quot; What has the Review to say this week about Mr. Bush's noble crusade to combat the nation's newly discovered &quot;energy crisis?&quot; 
 &quot;There was no national crisis. Make no mistake: The energy plan was a political document meant to address a misdiagnosed political problem, and as such it represents not a great stand on principle, but a simple political mistake. Which is why the Bushies appear to be adopting a maneuver Clinton often resorted to when he was mispositioned on an issue - backpedaling like mad.&quot; 
 Now comes NewsMax.com - one of the new kids on the right-wing block, but every bit as passionate about quelling, choking and indeed putting to death demonic liberalism. Here's its view of the Christian atmosphere that prevails in the morally cleansed White House (italics in the original): 
 &quot;Behind the scenes, the Bush White House is in <i>utter turmoil. </i>The senior White House staff is feuding, leaking and going for each other's jugulars. The jockeying for pre-eminence is very transparent. It is petty, demeaning and shameful - to Bush and the presidency. G.W. Bush <i>is </i>sinking. [He] had better take control - soon - or his presidency will be imperiled.&quot; 
 Finally, let's hear from the great man himself, in a quote taken directly from the White House press office, free from all the cheap, jeering distortions of late-night comics and partisan hacks: 
 &quot;Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable rights of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I - it's - I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values.&quot; 
 Hey, they're right: You really do get the whole picture when you look at <i>both </i>sides! 
 
 <strong>Historical Continuity 
 </strong>Finally, a quote from another staunch - even crusty - conservative, Baltimore's own H.L. Mencken, speaking on Oval Office rhetoric: 
 &quot;[The president's style] reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of tosh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.&quot; 
 The year was 1921; the subject - Warren G. Harding. As those horrible old socialists the French like to say: <i>plus la change ... </i>

TITLE: new 'barber' show a cut above
AUTHOR: by Barnaby Thompson

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Neither the Mussorgsky Theater nor its bigger, richer and more illustrious counterpart the Mariinsky have much success with Italian opera as a rule - either with the tragic, dramatic works of Puccini and Verdi or with the lighter Rossini, Cimerosa and Paisiello. With &quot;The Barber of Seville,&quot; however, the Mussorgsky has broken the mold somewhat, and Valery Gergiev and Co. might want to sit up and take notice. The Mussorgsky's new production is a long way from perfect, but it has an energy and effervescence for which the Mariinsky strives in vain in much of its repertoire.
 The timing of the premiere seems odd, as the first two performances come right at the end of the Mussorgsky's season (the close was on Thursday night). Nonetheless, it does give the public something to look forward to next season: The Mussorgsky opens on Aug. 28; &quot;The Barber of Seville&quot; plays on Sept. 3 and 21.
 Conductor Andrei Anikhanov and his orchestra start every performance with one major drawback: the Mussorgsky's parchment-dry acoustic that gives the woodwind a ridiculous advantage over the strings. The overture suffered in particular, dampening Rossini's trademark extended crescendos and wreaking havoc with the balance, and the opening scene with Count Almaviva, sung by Alexei Kuligin, and the musicians, came across practically at a whisper (although given the nature of the action this had its plus points, too).
 But in general, Anikhanov's occasional uncertainty was overshadowed by his sensible choice of tempos. Although he erred on the quick side, the overall pace set the right spirit and suited the singers. The orchestra also had some fine moments with the instrumental commentaries that punctuate the action on stage, although not all of these moments were treated with confidence.
 The star of the show, in every respect, was Yury Ivshin's Figaro, and with his entrance an unpromising beginning was swiftly turned around. Not only did Ivshin score with his opening aria, sung and acted with gusto and (importantly in this case) volume, his presence lifted everyone else. Kuligin's light voice especially benefited from Ivshin's support.
 Also noteworthy was Natalya Mironova's Rosina. While she rushed the more technical passages too frequently, Mironova obviously revelled in this coloratura role, and made the transition from simpering baby doll to elite combatant in the battle of the sexes (and back again) with aplomb. Sergei Safenin as Bartolo and Mikhail Kazantsev as Basilio made a nice comic duo. Kazantsev's bass, once heard, is hardly to be forgotten: Subtle it wasn't, but he was good on the gags and buffoonery.
 Perhaps director Stanislav Gaudasinsky feels that the Mussorgsky's audience knows what it wants, and so he gives it to them: tradition. Certainly, no one could accuse the frilly sets or the staging of pushing the artistic envelope. But Gaudasinsky has set out to communicate, to bring out as much wit as possible (the singing in Russian obviously helps), and as the performance goes on the cast's confidence and audience's laughs mount.
 These are laughs won, incidentally, by good delivery of the libretto, and not by the two pieces of slapstick Gaudasinsky introduces: the irritating life-size doll, and Basilio's double-bass. (Perhaps the latter is meant to act as a sort of comfort blanket, which was the only reason I could come up with as to why Basilio started strumming it like a member of a jazz combo when a dozen heavily armed soldiers burst into Bartolo's house.)

TITLE: malyshchitsky shows small is beautiful
AUTHOR: by Keith Sands

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Teatr Vladimira Malyshchitskogo (The Vladimir Malyshchitsky Theater) is one of the smallest in the city - and one of the most innovative. Despite its size, the company has a large repertoire and stages at least five new productions a year at its home on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Ul. The auditorium seats only 80, on benches on either side of the elongated performance space, but this makes for an extraordinarily intense experience for the audience.
 The repertoire ranges from new takes on old classics - such as Gogol's &quot;The Marriage,&quot; and Chekhov's &quot;Uncle Vanya&quot; - to more modern fare. Highlights include superb adaptations from the poet laureates of the late-Soviet hangover, Sergei Dovlatov and Venedikt Yerofeyev. The production of Dovlatov's autobiographical novella &quot;Zapovednik&quot; received the seal of approval from Dovlatov's widow, who said it was &quot;the best stage production of [Dovlatov's] work in the world.&quot; The production has been performed over 650 times and has won laurels at international festivals.
 &quot;The Gospel According to Yerofeyev&quot; was adapted by Malyshchitsky from Yerofeyev's phantasmogoric novel &quot;Moskva-Petushki,&quot; which famously contains cocktail recipes based on eau-de cologne, insecticide and brake fluid.
 Contemporary names also feature. Fazil Iskander's &quot;Thinking About Russia and an American&quot; examines Russia's self-image after perestroika. This production has some unusual casting - Malyshchitsky's daughter plays Lenin. &quot;We were having a laugh,&quot; says her father. &quot;Deliberate hooliganism.&quot;
 Another writer with whom Malyshchitsky has an affinity is Boris Goller, a Russian writer who worked in the theater but was denied publication until the era of glasnost. Two of Goller's plays are in the repertoire at the moment, and it was a production of his &quot;100 Brothers of Bestuzhev,&quot; about the 1825 Decembrist Revolt, which first made Malyshchitsky's name at the Molodyozhny Theater in the early 1980s. It was the first high-water mark of a 40-year career in which he had already worked alongside such luminaries as Yury Lyubimov and the legendary actor, poet and bard Vladimir Vysotsky at the Taganka Theater, Moscow, in the late 1970s.
 But soon after the Goller production, he fell from grace with Soviet authorities. &quot;We put on Chingiz Aitmatov's &quot;A Day Lasts Longer Than a Century.&quot; In one strand of the play the Soviet Union discovers, somewhere in space, a perfect Communist society. And then makes the decision to destroy it.&quot;
 Malyshchitsky mounted an ambitious, War of the Worlds-type production: Over the stage were four TV screens showing documentary footage of U.S. and Soviet missile programs, with newscasters providing commentary. Censors watched the production no fewer than 30 times. Finally, there were &quot;40 actors on the stage, and three men from the Party committee in the audience, like a tribunal. They demanded that the TV screens be cut completely, but this only made the play even darker.&quot;
 Each performance was a sell-out, but official disapproval cast a shadow over his career. Two productions later, he lost his job. Several of his closest colleagues followed him. &quot;In the next two years we put on five new productions. Friends lent us places - rehearsal spaces at the Gorky House of Culture, that sort of place.&quot; It is this determination that has kept his own theater going strong since 1990, despite constant financial problems.
 The theater receives no funding from the city government. &quot;Officially, we are nobody - we don't exist,&quot; says Malyshchitsky, explaining that a decision to merge two districts in 1991 has prevented the theater from getting official registration ever since.
 &quot;When people, particularly younger people, come to this theater, they look around and say, &quot;How can this be a theater, it's a nightmare, terrible!' But at the end, they give us a standing ovation. I see myself how people change during a production. That gives us strength.&quot; He is critical of city authorities who &quot;spend a fortune on a one-day beer festival,&quot; but have no money to spare to keep an innovative theater running.
 The company is due to move to a bigger auditorium at the old Luch cinema on Ulitsa Vosstaniya, but with money so tight, there is little to spare to finish converting the cinema.
 Despite all this, Malyshchitsky remains optimistic that his theater &quot;lives and will live - but the form it takes does depend on the finances.&quot;
 
 <i>Teatr Vladimira Malyshchitskogo, 13 Bolshaya Konyushennaya Ulitsa. Tel: 314-11-12. </i>

TITLE: chernov's choice
TEXT: CD pirates outdid themselves last week. Not only did they react to the impressive concerts by <strong>Tindersticks </strong>last month by duly putting out the U.K. band's last album - they also &quot;improved&quot; it. Unhappy with the brevity of the album &quot;Can Our Love ...,&quot; they augmented the record's original eight tracks with eight more, making it almost 80 minutes long. The &quot;bonus tracks&quot; have been culled from Tindersticks' first three albums, and also include the rare duet featuring the band's singer Stuart Staples and Isabella Rossellini, called &quot;A Marriage Made in Heaven.&quot;
 The local band <strong>Leningrad </strong>also suffered from illegal activities, when its members were surprised to see their new album on sale in kiosks - when no album is due out for a few months yet. As it turns out, the record is half of the double album that the Moscow-based Gala label had planned for release in the autumn. &quot;<i>Ya Bukhayu, No Mogu Uskoritsya</i>&quot; (&quot;I Do Booze But I Can Speed It Up&quot;) is the name pirates gave to the release and the opening song, but that track in fact only contains those lines, but is really called &quot;<i>Mne By v Nebo</i>&quot; (&quot;I Wish I Was in Heaven&quot;). 
 &quot;It's all very unpleasant,&quot; Leningrad's percussionist Seva Andreyev said about the stolen record, which doesn't sound like the band's previous albums. &quot;[Pirates] obviously know how to make money.&quot; Oleg Grabko of Gala's local partners, Bomba-Piter, who are listed in the sleeve notes, said, &quot;Pirates have become more elaborate with their schemes.&quot;
 Russia is not known for its great blues musicians, but the best of what <i>is </i>on offer can be heard at the open-air <strong>Neva Delta </strong>festival this weekend. Advertised as &quot;St. Petersburg's First International Folk Blues Festival,&quot; the event will feature more than 10 blues acts from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vladimir and Nalchik, and will culminate with fireworks and a boat trip. <i>3 p.m. Friday, Molodyozhny Theater's Ismailovsky Gardens. 50 rubles at the door. (See Gigs for a list of performers.)
 </i>For some reason, the festival's promoters are linking the event to <strong>Robert Plant's </strong>concert the next day, and are hinting that the former Led Zeppelin vocalist might wish to attend. Plant was rumored to be backed by younger musicians, including somebody from that favorite Russian band, Portishead - but in reality he is coming with his own band New Sensations. The lineup includes Porl Thompson of The Cure - a band that <i>was </i>Russia's favorite some 10 years ago. <i>7 p.m., Sunday, Oktyabrsky Concert Hall. 300 to 5,000 rubles officially, but head for the scalpers because it's already sold out.
 </i>Much less democratic will be an invitation-only charity performance by <strong>Elton John </strong>at the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, who will play for the world's rich and powerful on June 19. Elton John, whose Russian concerts in 1979 were a sensation for hungry music fans, has not done anything remarkable lately. In fact, his last worthwhile album was &quot;Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,&quot; released in 1975. A mere $1,500 donation will get you an invitation.

TITLE: tequilajazzz takes on the music biz
AUTHOR: by Sergey Chernov

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Tequilajazzz has begun a crusade against all that it sees as bad about the Russian music business - and it has started with itself, burying what would have been its new album.
 The band's members have rejected recordings they made over the past 12 months because they felt they were too much in the vein of the current Russian pop/rock mainstream, which enjoys aggressive and well-financed promotion in the media. 
 &quot;In business terms it's a stupid move, because the kind of material we have would get guaranteed air play,&quot; says Yevgeny Fyodorov, Tequilajazzz's bassist and singer. &quot;But we decided we didn't want [the album] to be on the radio in its current form and in the company [of other Russian pop and rock music]. We don't like it.&quot;
 The band says that it wants to do something different, as its members feel that contemporary musicians have become too pop-minded and are interested primarily in publicity and money. Fyodorov attributes the trend to the influence of such media as MTV Russia and Nashe Radio (the latter started broadcasting in St. Petersburg on Wednesday).
 He also cites music writer Artyom Troitsky, who said that a great number of aspiring musicians adjust their songs to fit the the format of Nashe Radio.
 &quot;We found ourselves alongside bands like BI-2 in rotation and at festivals, so we've decided to behave in a different way - as if there was no Maxidrom [festival], as if there were no radio stations, as if there were only the [pioneering alternative yet now-defunct] TaMtAm Club and [its founder] Seva Gakkel - to make music in such a way that we wouldn't be ashamed to show it to Seva Gakkel.&quot;
 Tequilajazzz is particularly opposed to some of the ways in which the Russian music business operates. Money is invested in an act, for example, and that act goes on a long tour purely to earn money for itself and for those who invested in it. Recent examples of this phenomenon, says Fyodorov, are Chicherina and BI-2.
 &quot;It has reached the stage where [foreign] boy bands like Boyzone don't sound much different from Russian rock groups. We don't want to be part of this herd.&quot;
 &quot;Music must grow from the ground, not come from the top. Bands must be like stalagmites, not stalactites,&quot; said Fyodorov, mentioning Leningrad and Korol i Shut as bands who &quot;made it&quot; on their own terms.
 As for the music on Tequilajazzz's canceled album, Fyodorov describes it as &quot;quality power pop.&quot; &quot;It wasn't very different from what we did before, only it was richer in its melodies and arrangements,&quot; he says. &quot;But now we've chosen to follow the path of minimalism.&quot;
 In the meantime, Tequilajazzz is busy writing and rehearsing new material, which, Fyodorov says, &quot;differs greatly from what we have done before&quot; - more like the group's early TaMtAm days, &quot;ruthless both to listeners and to ourselves.&quot;
 The rejected album aside, Tequilajazzz's most recent release was the CD single &quot;Malenkaya Lozh&quot; (&quot;A Little Lie&quot;), which the band made a point of bringing out on the small independent Zvezda label in May 2000.
 &quot;We want to start a movement,&quot; says Fyodorov. &quot;We want people to get angry at the music business in the way they were once angry at the communists, and to wipe it out completely. I listen to Sonic Youth from morning till night, and I feel good.&quot;
 
 <i>Tequilajazzz's next concert will be at Moloko on July 21. See the Club Guide for telephone numbers, and keep an eye on Listings for details. </i>

TITLE: seoul food and eye candy
AUTHOR: by Sam Charap

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Ulitsa Korablestroitelei, the long, two-way thoroughfare bordering the Gulf of Finland on Vasilievsky Island, is one of the many St. Petersburg streets whose numbering system defies all logic. Even though I live on said street, it took me a good 25 minutes of walking to find No. 14, which is supposedly only a few numbers away from my apartment.
 When I finally arrived, I found myself standing in front of none other than the mammoth Pribaltiiskaya Hotel. I rechecked the address - I was looking for Seoul Garden, allegedly a &quot;traditional Korean restaurant&quot; - but this was definitely the right place.
 My dining companion and I, now thoroughly convinced we would be spending our evening in a kitschy hotel restaurant surrounded by hordes of German tourists too lazy to venture into the city center, were surprised that we were one of just two groups in the relatively spacious dining room. 
 Greeted by a pleasant waitress, Anna, who, despite her extremely Slavic looks managed to pull off the traditional Korean outfit with only a modicum of absurdity, we took a seat next to the windows and were treated to Seoul Garden's selling point - a stunning view onto the Gulf of Finland, visible from almost every table in the restaurant.
 After ordering our drinks - a half-liter of Zolotaya Bochka ($3) for me and a Coke ($2) for my companion - we sat pondering the comical way Korean is rendered in Russian transliteration and thanking the gods that the Karaoke setup was out of commission. Our helpful waitress and one of her colleagues took the opportunity to offer advice, explaining some of the dishes with which we weren't familiar.
 We settled on Posot Yache Pokum ($20), a mushroom and stir-fried vegetable appetizer, Bibim Pap ($15), my favorite Korean dish - a stew of rice, egg, beef, and veggies that one must mix with the spicy red sauce provided - and Sen Son Gui Set ($25), a fish dish. It must be said that Seoul Garden's menu is rather pricy: Most entrees are in the $20 to $35 range, and all prices are listed in U.S. dollars.
 But before we could try our dishes, we were treated to a complimentary assortment of Korean side salads, including eggplant, carrots, sprouts and, of course, the lethal Kim Chi (super spicy Korean cabbage), as well as a miso-like scallion soup. The salads and soup were excellent and packed a good spicy punch, waking my taste buds from their bland Russian-food-induced slumber.
 In less than 10 minutes our dishes arrived all at once. The Bibim Pap was quite good and properly presented in a hot stone bowl, but didn't surpass the Bibim Pap I can find in the United States for half the price. The mushroom and veggies turned out to be a solid choice, but lacked the spicy kick of most Korean dishes. 
 The highlight of the meal was the fish, which came whole, deep-fried and covered in delicious fresh vegetables. The soy-like sauce with scallions and onions presented on the side added a Korean element to the dish, which, without the sauce, as my dining companion pointed out, would just be a well-prepared fish.
 Overall, my dining companion and I were very impressed. Yet I couldn't stop thinking I would be paying a lot less for the same-quality food in most other major cities. That said, Korean restaurants are few and far between in St. Petersburg, and if you are looking for a solid meal with a breathtaking view and can afford it Seoul Garden is a good bet.
 
 <i>Seoul Garden, Pribaltiiskaya Hotel, 15th Floor. Dinner for two, 1,950 rubles ($65). Open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Tel: 356-71-04, 356-41-02. Major credit cards accepted. </i>

TITLE: African Countries Agree To Create 'Blacks-Only' Union
AUTHOR: By Susanna Loof 

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LUSAKA, Zambia - African leaders have pledged to stop fighting and work to increase prosperity under a new African Union loosely modeled on the European Union.
 The African Union, first proposed in 1999 by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, will replace the Organization of African Unity, which started out with much the same goals. The OAU was created 38 years ago to help Africa free itself from colonialist rulers. The leaders hope that a stronger organization will be more successful at uniting the continent.
 Speaking at the closing of the final OAU summit on Wednesday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said that a committee of 15 African heads of state would be created soon to get the work underway. Speakers lauded the birth of the Union as an historic event.
 Taking a strident tone, Gadhafi said the new union was reserved exclusively for blacks. &quot;We cannot be neutral here. We are here for the Africans, not the Europeans. We are here for the blacks, not the whites,&quot; said Gadhafi, who was greeted with cheers and applause.
 Zambian President Fredrick Chiluba said African leaders had agreed to form a parliament and a central bank, but initially the union would focus on creating a heads-of-state assembly, a council of foreign ministers, a secretariat and a permanent committee of ambassadors. Its charter also calls for a shared currency and a court of justice.
 And actions must speak louder than words, he said. &quot;Africa does not have the luxury of time. If we hesitate, or procrastinate in implementing the decisions we have taken concerning the establishment of the African Union, time will pass us by.&quot;
 Under the plan, African countries would seek partnerships with developed countries. But many analysts remain skeptical that the union will bring real change to the impoverished continent, and are dubious that African countries will be willing or able to contribute the money and resources necessary.
 Much of the summit was devoted to talking about the conflicts plaguing the continent, including wars in Congo and Burundi. Almost a third of Africa's countries are involved in some form of conflict. Gadhafi blamed all current African wars on colonialists, who created artificial borders dividing tribal communities.
 &quot;[Africa's] political nations were invented by colonialists, and when we ensure the integration [of Africa] we will end the conflicts,&quot; Gadhafi said, arguing that Africa ought to be one nation.
 He also called for whites to compensate Africans for past injustices. &quot;The continent was humiliated and we were treated like animals, hunted in the forest and thrown in the sea for fish,&quot; he said. &quot;We paved the roads for them and we have worked the land for them.&quot;
 Louis Farrakhan, a friend of Gadhafi's and leader of the Chicago-based Nation of Islam, sat behind the Libyan leader during the ceremony.
 The heads of state elected Ivory Coast's former foreign minister Amara Essy to lead the group during the one-year transition period. Essy, who also served previously as Ivory Coast's ambassador to the United Nations, was elected secretary general of the OAU late on Monday, said Charles Kibelloh, permanent secretary in Tanzania's Foreign Ministry.
 Essy will lead the group for a year as it transfers its assets to the new African Union. &quot;We have to build the structure of the new organization. That will be my main task,&quot; Essy told reporters on Tuesday.
 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan praised Essy as &quot;particularly well qualified to lead the organization during this challenging period.''
 &quot;We look forward to close collaboration with him in addressing issues affecting the African region,'' Annan said in a statement.

TITLE: Macedonians Stare Across the Divide
AUTHOR: By Misha Savic 

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: TETOVO, Macedonia - For some people, Macedonia's breakup, which Western negotiators have tried to avoid by all means possible, has already begun. They include Mirko Blazevski and his family.
 The 44-year-old farmer, sweating in the blazing sun, mumbled a curse as he peered through binoculars at his home on the slopes of Mount Sara. Ethnic Albanian rebels evicted him last week.
 Living now as a refugee with relatives in nearby Tetovo in violence-plagued western Macedonia, Blazevski said his only fault was that he, as a member of the Macedonian majority, happened to live in a predominantly ethnic Albanian area.
 &quot;We thought we just needed to keep quiet, mind our own business and avoid trouble,&quot; he said.
 But last Friday - the first day of a NATO-mediated cease-fire between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels - about 10 armed guerrillas surrounded Blazevski's rural home and said that he, his wife Suzana, his two small daughters and his elderly parents had to leave Varvara village for good.
 &quot;They wouldn't let us take any belongings,&quot; Blazevski said, adding he would soon have to &quot;go through the humiliation&quot; of asking for clothes at the nearest Red Cross.
 There have been no major clashes in Macedonia in the last few days, facilitating ongoing peace talks between ethnic Albanians and the government, which were brokered by the United States and the EU.
 However, while the cease-fire is generally holding in most of the country, the Blazevskis are increasingly worried that they may have lost virtually all their belongings.
 &quot;The terrorists ransacked our house, took money and jewelry and told us that we can never again live on 'Albanian soil,'&quot; Blazevski complained, purple-faced with rage.
 On Friday alone, rebels forced the Blazevskis and about 800 other Macedonians from Varvara and five other villages.
 The angry villagers went to the capital, Skopje, demanding that President Boris Trajkovski send government forces to help them get back their homes.
 But that may not be a priority for the authorities involved in the peace talks with the rebels.
 Ethnic Albanians demand broader rights, including better political representation at all levels of society and government, the official use of Albanian and a rewritten constitution that accepts them as &quot;a constituent people&quot; in the country.
 The Macedonian majority so far has rejected demands they view as part of a strategy to carve out an ethnic Albanian mini-state and unite it with adjacent Kosovo, the mostly ethnic Albanian province of neighboring Serbia.
 Culturally, the Macedonians, who are Slavs, and ethnic Albanians are separated by religion, language and history.
 While most Macedonians follow the Orthodox faith, most Albanians are Muslim. Albanians also speak a unique language that has its roots in ancient Illyria - the region bordering the Adriatic Sea - and is not spoken by anyone outside the Balkans except a few linguists and diplomats.
 NATO peacekeepers deployed here and in Kosovo have worked hard to cut off arms supplies that come to the rebels from their ethnic kin in Kosovo.
 Furthermore, NATO officials feel responsible to maintain the shaky truce they helped mediate.
 Defense Ministry official Marjan Gjurovski said that NATO representatives have used their contacts with ethnic Albanians to demand that the rebels pull out of the villages and allow refugees to return.
 A NATO spokesperson in Skopje, Barry Johnson, declined to go into details, but confirmed that the alliance had sought to &quot;ensure that the cease-fire is respected by both sides.&quot;
 Meanwhile, the Blazevskis can only watch their home from a distance, wondering &quot;what peace, if any, we will see.&quot;
 &quot;I don't even dare to hope that I'll get back to my home again,&quot; Mirko Blazevski said.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Wahid on the Offensive
 

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's political crisis deepened on Thursday as increasingly isolated President Abdurrahman Wahid thumbed his nose at parliament and ordered his police chief arrested for refusing to quit.
 "The president ordered the chief political and security minister and the caretaker police chief to take tough action ... to avoid the spreading of insubordination," presidential spokesperson Adhie Massardi said. "The order will take the form of an arrest."
 Police chief General Surojo Bimantoro has refused Wahid's order to resign, saying his ouster requires the approval of the parliament, which has publicly backed the general against Wahid.
 
 
Marching Season
 

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Nineteen police and two civilians were hurt in riots and guerrillas fired guns in the air ahead of hardline Protestant parades on Thursday, the height of Northern Ireland's volatile "marching season."
 Those incidents, along with a "loyalist" militia threat to retaliate if Catholics broke truces, jolted the already shaky peace process in the British province, where more than 3,000 people have died in 30 years of sectarian and political violence.
 Later on Thursday, thousands of members of the Protestant Orange Order were to parade in cities, towns and villages to mark "The Twelfth of July" - the high point of annual processions commemorating ancient victories over the Roman Catholics.
 
 
From King to PM
 

SOFIA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Bulgaria's former king Simeon II, the first ex-monarch to regain political power in post-Communist Eastern Europe, accepted the nomination on Thursday as the country's next prime minister, officials said.
 The ex-king's National Movement for Simeon II (NDS) scored a resounding victory in a June 17 general election.
 "I accept this offer with huge excitement, taking into consideration my sense of responsibility and the confidence received on June 17," said the ex-king, a political novice at the age of 64.
 
 
Extradition Spat
 

TOKYO (Reuters) - Peru is racing to charge former president Alberto Fujimori with more serious crimes and Lima will then formally seek his extradition from Japan, where the ex-president is in exile, Ambassador Luis Macchiavello said.
 Peru has so far only charged Fujimori with dereliction of duty, but is also trying to prepare other charges, including his alleged responsibility in a 1991 massacre.
 "Once we have proof that Fujimori is guilty, we will request the extradition," Macchiavello said in an interview on Thursday.
 "Everything is going to be clarified ... during the trial of [Vladimiro] Montesinos," he said, referring to Fujimori's former right-hand man and spy chief who was arrested last month and returned to Peru from Venezuela after eight months on the run.
 
 
Japan To Vote
 

TOKYO (Reuters) - Flanked by supporters in T-shirts showing his determined face, wildly popular Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi opened campaigning for a national election on Thursday with a pledge to change Japan from top to bottom.
 The election for seats in the Upper House will be the first nationwide test of whether Koizumi can translate his superstar status into a victory for his long-ruling but increasingly unpopular coalition. "I have said I will carry out reforms that no other parties have dared to touch," Koizumi told a crowd of about 3,000 in an inaugural campaign speech in Tokyo's fashionable Ginza shopping district.
 Approval ratings for Koizumi, who swept into office in April, have consistently held at record levels of around 80 percent, making him Japan's most popular post-war prime minister.
 
 
Hanson Faces Charges
 

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - The One Nation Party, which has shaken Australia with its attacks on immigrants and Aborigines, is fighting for its life with its firebrand leader facing electoral fraud charges that could land her behind bars.
 Pauline Hanson is to appear in court on July 31 on charges of electoral fraud, following a 21-month police investigation into allegations that she fraudulently claimed One Nation had 500 members in 1997 - a prerequisite for its registration as a political party.
 If convicted, Hanson faces up to 10 years in jail, which would amount to a death sentence for the party, said Margo Kingston, author of "Off The Rails," a book about the One Nation leader. "It would die with her. It's a party based on a cult," said Kingston.
 
 
Legionnaires' Outbreak
 

MURCIA, Spain (AP) - An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in southeastern Spain has infected 178 people, a regional health official said on Wednesday.
 Another 292 people have been hospitalized with pneumonia-like symptoms that indicate they may have Legionnaires, said Francisco Marques, the Murcia region's top health official. Health investigators believe all the victims lived, worked or passed through two downtown neighborhoods of Murcia, 350 kilometers southeast of Madrid.
 Legionnaires' disease is a form of pneumonia discovered after an outbreak that killed 34 people at a 1976 American Legion convention in Pennsylvania.
 
 
Dying for a Drink
 

MONTREAL (AP) - The family of a man who was crushed to death by a vending machine is suing Coca-Cola Co., two other companies and a Quebec university. Kevin Mackle, 21, was killed in 1998 when the machine at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Quebec, tipped over when he shook it, trying to dislodge a drink.
 In the $665,000 lawsuit, Mackle's family blamed the defendants "for the moral harm and material loss" - such as funeral costs - resulting from the accident. It said the defendants knew that the vending machine model had a history of tipping over when shaken, but did nothing to warn people of the danger or prevent it from happening.
 A statement filed with the lawsuit claimed that the manufacturer of the machine, the California-based Vendo Company, was aware of a defect that made the vending machine tip over. Although the problem was well known, Coca-Cola, Vendo and Beaver Foods - the operator of the vending machine - did nothing to warn consumers, the lawsuit said.
 Coca-Cola spokesperson Shannon Denny said the company has put labels on vending machines that warn "tipping or rocking may cause injury or death." 



TITLE: Pens Trade Jagr to Washington
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: WASHINGTON - Jaromir Jagr got his wish for a fresh start, giving the Washington Capitals the superstar they've always wanted.
 Jagr, a seven-time All-Star and one of the league's true marquee players, was traded by the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Capitals on Wednesday for three prospects.
 &quot;It's kind of like when we got Michael Jordan, right?&quot; said Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who brokered the deal last year that convinced Jordan to come to Washington as part-owner of the Capitals and the NBA's Washington Wizards. &quot;The opportunity was there.
 &quot;I do hope it answers two questions. One, can we get great players to come to Washington, D.C.? Two, I hope it knocks the chip off of people's shoulders. We're as good a team as any others now, and I hope the attendance and ticket sales prove it.&quot;
 In the deal, Washington gets Jagr and defenseman Frantisek Kucera, and sends Kris Beech, Michal Sivek, and Ross Lupaschuk to Pittsburgh.
 Jagr has been behind Pittsburgh's playoff dominance of the Capitals. Maybe now he can turn the table on the Penguins, who eliminated Washington from the postseason six times in seven tries since 1991 - including this year.
 &quot;Yeah, that's a concern. We're definitely going to see them in the playoffs,&quot; Penguins GM Craig Patrick said. &quot;But that's our goal every year - to beat the Caps in the first round of the playoffs and go on from there.&quot;
 Leonsis had been thwarted in his bid to bring a big name to a team that has never had a national profile and struggles to maintain one even at home.
 &quot;This is a great day for the city,&quot; Leonsis said. &quot;It puts us on the national scene.&quot;
 The Capitals tried to sign several prominent free agents this month, but lost out in the bidding for Jeremy Roenick, Pierre Turgeon, Doug Weight and others.
 The jubilant mood in Washington contrasted with the tone of Jagr's bittersweet departure from Pittsburgh, where he asked to be traded at least twice last season after spending his entire career there.
 Patrick called Jagr in the Czech Republic on Wednesday to tell him about the trade.
 &quot;He wanted to move on, so he's glad at this point it's over with. It's difficult to trade someone who has been here 11 years and accomplished so much,&quot; Patrick said.
 Jagr had a different message when he spoke later to Capitals general manager George McPhee.
 &quot;He said, 'I have to something to prove.' He wants to be the best player in the world,&quot; McPhee said.
 The Czech forward played for Stanley Cup-winning Penguins teams in 1991 and 1992. This year, he helped lead Pittsburgh to the Eastern Conference finals after winning a fifth NHL scoring title and fourth in a row with 121 points. He had 52 goals and 69 assists.
 Before Penguins owner-star Mario Lemieux ended his retirement in late December, Jagr was well down the NHL scoring list and had a stretch with only one goal in 12 games.
 Jagr asked to be traded, and didn't seem particularly happy even after Lemieux returned and the Penguins made a drive for the Stanley Cup.
 &quot;It's probably time for a change,&quot; Lemieux said at one point.
 Jagr's $20.7 million salary over the next two seasons limited the Penguins' options.
 Before the deal, the New York Rangers were believed to be the front-runners for Jagr, but Patrick was unable to complete a trade with GM Glen Sather.
 &quot;This is the only deal that made sense to us,&quot; Patrick said.
 Jagr, 29, won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1999. The right wing has 439 goals and 640 assists in 806 NHL games. He's scored at least 27 goals in each of his 11 seasons.
 Pittsburgh led the NHL with 281 goals last season, while Washington's offense ranked 13th. Peter Bondra was the team's only reliable scoring threat.
 &quot;You put this guy on the team with Peter Bondra,&quot; Leonsis said, &quot;and it answers the question, 'Can we score?'&quot;

TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Hasek in Hospital
 

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) - Dominik Hasek, the NHL's top goalie, remained in the hospital Thursday, eight days after he was admitted with a possible viral infection.
 "His condition is not serious, but he remains in hospital so that we can eliminate all possible dangers to his health," Jan Fertek, director of the hospital in Hasek's hometown of Pardubice, said in a telephone interview.
 "He has nonspecific troubles that could have been caused by an infection," he said, but refused to provide any further details, citing Hasek's right to privacy.
 Hasek, 36, won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's best goalie for the sixth time last month. Two weeks later he was traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the Detroit Red Wings. He fell ill last week upon his arrival from the United States.
 Hasek was to participate in a weekend tennis tournament of hockey stars in the Bohemian town of Jablonec and Nisou. His spot will be taken by Jiri Fischer, a Red Wings defenseman. 
 
 
Raptors Re-Sign Davis
 

TORONTO (AP) - Antonio Davis and the Toronto Raptors have agreed to a five-year deal worth more than $60 million, his agent said.
 The agreement, which cannot be signed until July 18, allows the team to hang on to a coveted free agent after a string of high-profile defections. It also should help the Raptors re-sign superstar Vince Carter, who will be a free agent after next season, agent Bill Duffy said.
 "It came down to Toronto putting it all together," Davis told the Toronto Sun from his home in Orlando, Florida. "All I can do is hope that in the long run I've made the best decision for my family.
 "Right now I feel that I have."
 Davis, 32, spent six seasons with Indiana before coming to Toronto in a deal before the 1999-00 season for the rights to forward Jonathan Bender. He had his best season in 2000-01, averaging 13.7 points and 10.1 rebounds in the regular season.
 Davis had two years left on a seven-year, $35 million contract, but he had a clause that allowed him to become a free agent on July 1. 
 
 
Graf Is Pregnant
 

BERLIN (Reuters) - Former world No. 1 tennis player Steffi Graf is pregnant and is due to give birth to a baby boy in November, Bild newspaper said on Thursday.
 Graf, 32, and her partner, American tennis player Andre Agassi, have been together for two years. She has often talked about her fondness for children.
 Bild said Graf's mother Heidi had recently told friends in southern Germany about the pregnancy.
 Bild said Graf's management company in Mannheim, Stefanie Graf Marketing GmbH, had declined to comment.
 It responded to a faxed query from Bild by saying: "Frau Graf has no comment on personal matters."
 Graf, who won 22 Grand Slam singles titles during her career and was ranked No. 1 in the world for a record 378 weeks, spends most of her time away from Germany. 



TITLE: Ripken Steals Show at Midsummer Classic
AUTHOR: By Ben Walker

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SEATTLE - Hey Cal! Care to reconsider?
 Cal Ripken, baseball's reluctant hero, gave himself one last All-Star victory lap before retiring. And he gave baseball one more reason to thank him.
 Ripken homered and won the MVP award Tuesday night, highlighting the American League's 4-1 victory over the National League, the AL's fifth-straight All-Star win.
 &quot;This one, I think I came in with my eyes open a little wider,&quot; he said.
 &quot;When you know it's your last one and you know that there will be no more, you tend to look around and take it in and appreciate it.&quot;
 What began as a trip down memory lane - Ripken started at shortstop, at Alex Rodriguez's suggestion - wound up with him taking a glorious trip around the bases, cheered by Tony Gwynn and every other All-Star.
 &quot;He stepped up and did something magical the way he has done his whole career,&quot; Arizona outfielder Luis Gonzalez said. &quot;He is an ambassador to the game of baseball and to the fans and to the players.&quot;
 And he can still play a little, too.
 Less than a month after announcing he'd retire at the end of the season, Ripken became the first AL player to win a pair of All-Star MVP awards.
 &quot;It's just been a great deal of fun my whole career. The All-Star games, I've been able to go to a whole lot of them, but this is by far the most special,&quot; the Baltimore third baseman said.
 His homer easily was the best moment in a game that saw Roger Clemens finally face Mike Piazza. There was no drama there, though someone was later hit by the shattered barrel of a bat - NL honorary manager Tommy Lasorda.
 Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordonez connected for consecutive home runs for the AL.
 Ichiro Suzuki, the most popular player in Seattle these days, singled and stole a base as the AL cut its deficit to 40-31-1. The Mariners got a record eight players into the game.
 But it was Ripken's night.
 At 40, Ripken supplanted Stan Musial as the oldest player to homer in an All-Star game. Ripken's other All-Star homer came in 1991, when he was MVP.
 After stepping out to acknowledge a standing ovation, Ripken hit Chan Ho Park's first pitch of the third inning over the left-field fence.
 &quot;I swung and made good contact and the ball went out of the ballpark and I felt like I was flying around the bases,&quot; Ripken said.
 Gwynn, who will retire with Ripken after this season, applauded from the dugout. NL pitcher Curt Schilling caught the moment on his camcorder and NL third baseman Chipper Jones clapped into his glove as Ripken rounded the bag that had been stamped with his No. 8.
 &quot;It's an amazing moment,&quot; Park said. &quot;It was the first pitch ever in an All-Star game for me and probably the last home run for Mr. Ripken.&quot;
 Ever humble, Ripken had to be coaxed out of the dugout by the sellout crowd of 47,364 at Safeco Field for a curtain call.
 &quot;When he hit that ball, I said, 'Oh, wow!'&quot; Gwynn said. &quot;There's really only a couple of people in this game who could do that.
 &quot;It happened on his night.&quot;
 Later, the game was stopped as players joined commissioner Bud Selig in a ceremony before the sixth inning to say good-bye to Ripken and Gwynn. Video tributes were shown on the scoreboard, which flashed, &quot;Thanks Cal and Tony.&quot;
 &quot;It's been a great run,&quot; Ripken told the fans.
 Two years ago, in baseball's last All-Star lovefest, Ripken and Gwynn supported Ted Williams when he threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park.
 A fitting farewell for Ripken. Many credit him for saving baseball after a strike wiped out the 1994 World Series, punctuated by him breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games record the next season.
 His brown hair now gray, Ripken played in his 18th All-Star game and finished up watching from the dugout with his 7-year-old son, Ryan.
 Ripken's first All-Star game came in 1983, when Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski played for the last time.
 Gwynn, added as an honorary member, did not get to hit. The eight-time NL batting champion from San Diego said he was more than content to follow the festivities from the dugout.
 Seattle's Freddy Garcia was the winning pitcher and teammate Kazuhiro Sasaki completed the three-hitter and got the save. Park took the loss.
 Jeter, part of the new breed of shortstops who have carried on Ripken's legacy, and Ordonez homered off Jon Lieber in the sixth.
 Right before the first pitch, Rodriguez surprised Ripken by suggesting they switch positions for the first inning. Rodriguez had to shove Ripken playfully toward a spot he had not played since Sept. 1, 1997.
 &quot;That started with A-Rod,&quot; AL manager Joe Torre said. &quot;He came up with this idea and said, 'What do you think?' And I said, 'I think it's dynamite.'&quot;
 Said Ripken: &quot;It was great seeing the game from shortstop again.&quot;

TITLE: Colombians Just Want a Peaceful Tournament
AUTHOR: By Peter Muello

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: CALI, Colombia - Colombians got what they wanted Wednesday night - a peaceful opening of Copa America, capped by a victory by the host country.
 Police with bomb-sniffing dogs checked stadium grandstands before the opening of the soccer tournament that nearly was suspended because of fears of political violence. But there were no problems as Colombia beat Venezuela 2-0 and Chile downed Ecuador 4-1 in the northern city of Barranquilla.
 Soccer-crazed Colombians hope that by safely staging the world's oldest international soccer tournament, they will show off the positive face of their country - and enjoy at least a brief respite from a 37-year guerrilla war.
 &quot;This is a source of pride for Colombia, and that's how we Colombians feel. We know the entire world is looking at us now and we have to act accordingly,&quot; said Sandro Portillo, an unemployed man who was trying to get a glimpse at the police drill at Cali's Pascual Guerrero stadium.
 The tournament, first held in 1916, almost didn't happen.
 Bombings in Cali and other cities in May raised fears the event could become a battleground. The June kidnapping by leftist rebels of Hernan Mejia, the vice president of the Colombian Soccer Federation, was the last straw.
 Although Mejia was released days later, the South American Soccer Confederation suspended the tournament and debated moving it elsewhere. Then, in a stunning turnaround, the body reversed its decision a week later and confirmed the Copa would be held in Colombia on the original dates.
 Colombia's President Andres Pastrana dubbed the two-week tournament the &quot;Peace Cup.&quot; He pledged more than 20,000 police, sharpshooters and dogs to guarantee safety at the venues and invited bomb experts from the United States as security advisers.
 In a nationally televised speech, Pastrana called the decision to hold the tournament in Colombia a victory over &quot;a violent minority.&quot;
 Skeptics thought it also showed the power of money: Millions were spent in preparation.
 Not everyone believed in the &quot;Peace Cup.&quot; Athletes and entire teams - Argentina and Canada - bailed out of the 12-country tournament, which ends July 29.
 In June, the Argentine Embassy in Bogota said it received threats to kidnap Argentine players, and on Tuesday the country announced it was dropping out.
 Medellin Mayor Luis Perez called the decision &quot;a tremendous lack of solidarity&quot; and said it would hurt ticket sales.
 Honduras agreed to be a last-minute replacement.
 Paraguay's showman goalie and team captain, Jose Luis Chilavert, also stayed home because of security concerns.
 Brazil lost several starters, including 1994 World Cup champion Mauro Silva, who went to the airport but begged off at the boarding gate. If the tournament was too dangerous a week ago, he asked, how could it be safe now?
 Also missing from Brazil's lineup will be Bayern Munich striker Elber and Bayer Leverkusen defender Lucio. Their German clubs said they feared for the safety of their players.
 In Cali, where last-minute police drills included practicing swarming an unruly fan, Brazil and Mexico meet Thursday.
 &quot;Everything looks the way we want it to look,&quot; said police Colonel Alvaro Becerra.
 Colombians want to believe the tournament could signal a turnaround.
 The Copa could provide &quot;catharsis for a nation that could use sport's comforting pause,&quot; El Colombiano, the main newspaper of Medellin, said in an editorial.

TITLE: Players Threaten Boycott Over Ticket Prices
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SYDNEY, Australia - The Australasian PGA Tour said Thursday it is concerned by growing player unrest and tournament boycott threats over ticket prices for the New Zealand Open, where Tiger Woods will be the star attraction.
 Australian Peter O'Malley is the latest golfer to threaten a boycott of the tournament and warns more Australians could join the protest started by New Zealand players Michael Campbell and Greg Turner.
 The players are angry that a weeklong pass to the Jan. 10-13 event at Paraparaumu, near Wellington, is expected to cost about $200. A weeklong pass last year cost $20.50.
 Tournament organizers are paying Woods a $2 million appearance fee.
 O'Malley, a former New Zealand Open champion, said the steep price would deter many golf fans and was not in the best interests of the game.
 &quot;While it's great that Tiger is playing, it's taking the average spectator out of the equation,&quot; O'Malley said.
 &quot;I support the stance of Michael, Greg and the others, and if the organizers don't back down on the price of tickets, I and a lot of Australians won't play.&quot;
 The tournament is part of the Australasian PGA Tour and tour spokesperson Julian Buckmaster said the player complaints were not good for golf.
 &quot;We don't want the golf public to be disenfranchised,&quot; Buckmaster said. &quot;We'd like to see the public have every opportunity to attend tournaments, but this is a different situation [from] most tournaments because Tiger Woods is playing for the first and possibly only time in New Zealand.&quot;
 Campbell, who won the 2000 New Zealand Open, said the ticket prices were &quot;totally disgusting.&quot;
 &quot;I understand the organizers' situation because they have to make money somehow through gate sales, but they are charging a lot of money and that's why I am taking this stance,&quot; Campbell said. &quot;I would love to play Tiger in my own backyard and beat him, but unless they change their prices, I am not playing.&quot;