SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #700 (67), Friday, August 31, 2001
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TITLE: Book Claims FSB Involved in Killing
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev and Yevgenia Borisova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Federal Security Service, or FSB, was involved in the 1998 assassination of liberal Duma Deputy Galina Starovoitova, according to excerpts from a book co-authored by a renegade former FSB officer that were published this week in a special edition of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
 The book, which has not yet been published, was co-authored by former FSB lieutenant colonel Alexander Litvinenko and historian Yury Felshtinsky. Litvinenko has been living in Great Britain since late 1998, when he charged that his FSB superiors had ordered him to kill oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was then secretary of the Security Council.
 "The security service was involved in the murder of St. Petersburg Duma Deputy and head of the Russia's Democratic Choice political party Galina Starovoitova, as well as the wounding of her assistant, Ruslan Linkov," the book says.
 Starovoitova was killed on the night of Nov. 20, 1998, on the staircase of her apartment building on Kanal Griboyedova. Linkov suffered serious bullet wounds to the head during the attack.
 Although the St. Petersburg FSB has investigated myriad possible motives for the attack, including economic and political ones, they have not arrested any suspects in the three years since the murder.
 "Although the suspects threw down the Agran-2000 and Beretta [pistols] that were used to kill Starovoitova at the scene, for some reason they took the USP pistol that wounded Linkov with them," the book says. "In Latvia in November 1999, a former Soviet Interior Ministry paratrooper named Konstantin Nikulin was arrested. The search revealed that he was in possession of the 9-millimeter pistol that, according to ballistics experts, was used to wound Linkov. However, the St. Petersburg FSB refused to investigate this evidence."
 "According to FSB spokesperson [Alexei] Vostretsov, 'there is no information that Nikulin was involved in this case,'" the book says.
 The local office of the FSB could not be reached for comment.
 Litvinenko's book says that the "economic" theory of the crime centers on an alleged meeting of Democratic Choice sponsors in Moscow a few days before the assassination. At that meeting, according to the FSB, Starovoitova was given $890,000 intended to finance the party's 1998 Legislative Assembly campaigns in St. Petersburg.
 "According to the FSB, Sta ro voi to va signed a receipt for the money, which was placed in the safe at the party's [Moscow] headquarters. However, no one has seen this paper because the headquarters were robbed one week after the assassination and the receipt disappeared," the book says.
 Linkov, who is now the head of the local branch of the Democratic Russia Party, denied this version of events and said that this line of investigation had been dropped by the FSB in 1999 when former prime minister Sergei Stepashin was in charge of the investigation.
 "Those fairy tales have been told by people who are interested in pointing the investigation in the wrong direction. This is a delirious version," Linkov said in an interview Wednesday.
 "As for the gun, this is an absolutely new thing for me, so I would certainly like to know more about it," he said.
 In addition to the Sta ro voi to va accusations, Litvinen ko's book, which is provisionally entitled "The FSB Blows Up Russia" - levels wide-ranging charges that the FSB has used organized-crime gangs and war criminals to carry out contract killings in Russia and abroad.
 Litvinenko joined the KGB in 1988. Beginning in 1991, he worked in FSB units responsible for investigating organized-crime groups. Some of his strongest allegations concern the FSB's use of organized crime.
 The validity of Litvinenko's accusations, however, is all but impossible to judge. In the excerpts published Monday, which fill 22 full pages in the tabloid-sized newspaper, no source is given for many of the things stated as facts, and many of the allegations are not supported by evidence. 
 Even Novaya Gazeta, which is sharply critical of President Vladimir Putin, questions whether the authors can be believed. In an accompanying editorial, the weekly newspaper appeals to the State Duma to create an independent parliamentary commission to look into Litvinenko's allegations.
 Litvinenko did not respond Monday to a request made through his London lawyer for an interview.
 An officer at the FSB in Moscow on Monday said the agency would not comment on the report. 
 The book also accuses top Russian officials of taking million-dollar payments from Chechen leaders beginning as early as 1992. The money was paid for weapons and ammunition left in Chechnya by Russian troops and in exchange for Russian commanders' agreeing to halt certain military operations, the excerpts said.
 Alexander Korzhakov, who was then-President Boris Yeltsin's top bodyguard and is now a deputy in the State Duma, is among those accused of taking money. His assistant, Nikolai Moiseyenko, said Monday by telephone that the allegations were groundless.
 Most of the excerpts deal more directly with FSB operations. They describe a secret department specializing in locating and liquidating people considered a danger to the state.
 The department created a special security firm, Stealth, which used organized-crime groups, including the Izmailovskaya group, to carry out contract killings, the excerpts said. The department was responsible for the "fairly well-known contract killings of criminal leaders, businesspeople and bankers," the book said. It gave no names of the victims.
 Litvinenko's planned book describes the operations of one of the special groups he said was created by the FSB.
 Andrei Morev was a Russian soldier serving with a unit in Chechnya that in 1996 destroyed the tiny village of Svobodny, and he was arrested as a war criminal. According to the published excerpts, Morev was told by FSB investigators that he had two options: work for the FSB or go to jail. 
 In 1998, a group led by Morev - 12 people, all accused of war crimes in Chechnya - began, on FSB orders, to liquidate people in various countries, including Ukraine, Iraq, Yugoslavia and Moldova, the excerpts said.
 In August 2000, members of the group started to disappear. Morev made several video copies of his confession and went into hiding, Litvinenko wrote.
 Yury Korgunyuk, a political analyst with INDEM, said he does not believe the FSB created special departments to carry out murder.
 "I am sure that discipline in the FSB is poor and that the officers are poorly paid. If they received such orders, they would simply go out and tell the first journalist they met about it," Korgunyuk said. "Such departments could exist in a totalitarian society, but not in this country."

TITLE: Education System To Get a Financial Boost
AUTHOR: By Oksana Yablokova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - With the new school year about to begin, the country's struggling education system was dubbed a state priority Wednesday, as President Vladimir Putin joined cabinet members and governors to discuss ways to modernize underfunded schools and colleges.
 At a meeting presided over by Putin, the advisory State Council tentatively approved a general framework for a long-term educational-reform plan aimed at improving conditions for teachers, making higher education more accessible and reviving people's trust in the system, while adjusting it to suit the country's existing needs better.
 The plan's authors, who included university heads, regional leaders and Education Ministry officials, said they would reveal details of the plan only after Wednesday's meeting.
 But Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko, who oversees social issues, said that 56 billion rubles ($1.87 billion) will be allocated from federal and regional budgets between now and 2005 to reform the system, which had long been a point of pride for the Soviet Union, but suffered major setbacks when state funding dried up.
 Matviyenko did not say how much would be spent on education next year, but she did say that for the first time in years education spending would exceed defense expenditures, which are set at about 282 billion rubles ($9.4 billion) in 2002.
 Over the past decade, the country's schools have been plagued by salary arrears, teacher shortages, lack of modern equipment and even textbooks, especially in remote regions. Higher education has become increasingly more expensive and subject to corruption, as it is becoming more and more commercialized.
 Addressing the State Council on Wednesday, Putin praised the Soviet education system and warned against blindly emulating Western standards, "even the most progressive ones." He added that a testament to the strength of Russian education was the stable foreign demand for Russian specialists.
 However, Putin said, the education system must be readjusted to suit the needs of the labor market.
 Putin also said "the cornerstone" of the state's policy is free education, but he acknowledged the growing commercial sector and called for bringing order to it.
 "People must clearly understand where they can count on the state and where they must rely on their own resources," Putin said. "The private-education system must be fully transparent and people must know exactly what ... they get for their money," he said.
 Sergei Katanandov, head of Karelia's regional government and one of the architects of the reform plan, said the system is in desperate need of revamping. He said Tuesday the reform will require at least 400 billion rubles ($13.3 billion) to get started.
 But the government has decided 56 billion rubles ($1.87 billion), with 40 billion ($1.33 billion) coming from regional budgets, will do for now.
 "Problems with financing have always existed and will continue to exist," Putin told the State Council, "but the efficiency of using funds is still very low."
 Education Minister Vladimir Filipov said Monday that although the program targets different aspects of higher and secondary education, its immediate goal is to raise the status of teachers. As a first step, Filipov said, monthly salaries will be doubled by the end of 2001 to a range of 1,200 to 2,450 rubles ($82).
 Filipov said the profession has become so unattractive that only about 50 percent of pedagogical college graduates go on to teach after graduation.
 The two most contentious proposals originally mentioned as part of the reform plan - switching from 11 to 12 years of schooling and introducing a unified state test to replace both high-school finals and college entrance exams - have been mothballed, and Filipov said they would not be implemented earlier than six or seven years from now.
 The switch to a 12-year system would entail a restructuring of the curriculum that would allow high-school seniors to focus on specialized subjects they intend to study in college.
 The aim of the unified test, according to Filipov, is to make higher education more accessible and to alleviate some of the stress of the current system, based on individual exams, both written and oral.
 The minister said the final decisions on the two proposals would be made based on pilot projects.
 Both reforms have stirred up a whirlwind of controversy.
 Filipov and other officials, including Matviyenko, have supported the plan for a 12-year system, saying the restructuring was intended to ease pressure on seniors overburdened with compulsory subjects unrelated to their future professions.
 But few students seemed enthusiastic about spending an extra year in school.
 Yevgeny Bunimovich, a prominent lawmaker at the Moscow City Duma and a prize-winning math teacher, agreed that the high-school curriculum needs to be restructured, but warned that adding an extra year could have terrible ramifications for young men.
 "The [12-year] system can be introduced only together with a law on a professional army," Bunimovich said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
 Young men 18 years of age are subject to the draft unless they have certain exemptions, including admission to college. Since children enter school at the age of 7, the 12-year system could expose male students to the threat of being conscripted immediately upon graduation.
 "Speaking about it now is simply dangerous," Bunimovich said, adding that up to 40 percent of male students go to college with "zero interest" in studying and only to avoid the draft.
 Bunimovich said it would be better simply to revamp the existing 11-year system, introduced in the late 1980s.
 The unified test has been pushed by education officials because it would make college entrance more egalitarian. To pass the existing exams, students must often hire expensive tutors, while applicants from remote areas must scrape up cash to travel to the institutions they wish to attend.
 Opponents argue that the test would water down academic standards.
 Viktor Sadovnichy, the rector of Moscow State University, said a unified test should not be introduced, since it cannot always reflect the true level of a student's knowledge.
 He did, however, agree that the existing system needs improvement.
 Reforms "will help to revive trust in the education system," Sadovnichy told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
 Public trust has been undermined, in large part, by the rampant corruption in the higher-education system, especially in the admissions process.
 Lyubov Zhukova, an English teacher at the Moscow Linguistics University who helps students prepare for entrance exams, said the unified test is a good idea.
 "If it is introduced, it could at least reduce corruption among professors involved in admitting students, and give a chance to truly gifted students," Zhukova said.

TITLE: Big Task Ahead for Vedernikov
AUTHOR: By Raymond Stults

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: MOSCOW - The opening of the Bolshoi Theater's 226th season Saturday will find a new figure at the venerable institution's musical helm: 37-year-old Alexander Vedernikov, who two months ago assumed the post of chief conductor and musical director.
 Vedernikov's appointment followed a second major upheaval at the Bolshoi in less than a year: the resignation last June, after a mere 10 months on the job, of Artistic Director Gen nady Rozhdestvensky. Though Rozh destvensky's departure was not unexpected - both his dissatisfaction with the Bolshoi and the Bolshoi's with him were widely known - the naming of Vedernikov to take on most of his duties came as an almost complete surprise both to the Moscow musical world and to Vedernikov himself.
 "I was conducting in Holland," said Vedernikov, "when the minister of culture, Mikhail Shvydkoi, telephoned and offered me the job. At first, I was inclined to refuse. My whole life was arranged in other directions and, considering all the problems at the Bolshoi, I felt there could be no guarantee of success." But a meeting with the theater's general director, Anatoly Iksanov, changed his mind. "I felt my conditions could be met and decided to take up the challenge."
 Taking up musical direction at the Bolshoi, with the special mission of rebuilding its operatic wing, Vedernikov faces a number of challenges. With a few exceptions, the theater's operatic repertoire consists of threadbare productions dating from as far back as the mid-1940s and newer stagings done in the style of the Stalinist era. Its roster of singers boasts only a small number of first-class voices. Its once-splendid orchestra often sounds like a band from the provinces. And just ahead lies the long-planned closing and reconstruction of the theater, likely to last for at least three seasons.
 The principal task, according to Ve der nikov, "is to create a proper structure and real artistic direction, and then to make intelligent decisions." As a starting point, the Bolshoi needs "to recognize that Russia has had a market economy for the last 10 years and the theater must operate in that economy," meaning that it can no longer expect to rely solely on its own artistic resources, but must get out into the market and compete for fresh talent unfettered by the out-of-date style that currently reigns at the theater.
 Fresh talent, to Vedernikov, means foreigners as well as Russians. Attracting artists from abroad, he believes, is more a matter of attitude and planning than a question of money.
 "We can find the money," Vedernikov said. "Maybe a singer who gets $10,000 a performance in the West will get only $3,000 here. But he will come to us nevertheless." The problem is that leading artists from the West are booked years in advance. Scheduling them requires careful and farsighted planning.
 To give his new duties proper attention, Vedernikov has drastically reduced conducting commitments abroad and will be absent from the Bolshoi not more than four months a year. He plans, however, to retain his post as head of the Russian Philharmonic, though handing over more work there to guest conductors. 
 In the upcoming Bolshoi season, Vedernikov's conducting chores will include Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades," his debut work in September; some "Nutcrackers"; and, in the latter half of the season, both "Adriana Lecouvreur" and a new production of Modest Mussorgsky's "Khovanshchina."

TITLE: Moscow Drags Heels on 3-Day Visas
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev and Valeria Korchagina

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The promised introduction of three-day visas to be issued to visitors upon arrival in Moscow and St. Petersburg has been put on hold, although the cause of the delay is not entirely clear.
 "We have done everything required from our side, so you better ask the Foreign Ministry why nothing is happening," said Grigory Antyufeyev, the head of the Moscow city tourism department on Wednesday.
 Under the procedure approved by the cabinet on June 28, visitors would be able to receive visas at Sheremetyevo and Pulkovo airports if they had filled out applications in their home countries at least 48 hours before traveling.
 Local officials in St. Petersburg and Moscow had thought that the system could begin operating on Sept. 1.
 Oleg Davtyan, a representative of the Foreign Ministry in St. Petersburg, said this week that his office was waiting for "an official letter from Moscow that will state how the system should operate."
 "We have not received the letter yet. It's possible that we will wait all September for it," Davtyan said Thursday.
 "The case is very difficult because there's lots of different things to prepare. But I won't tell journalists what things we have to prepare. Why should we reveal our secrets?" he said.
 The Foreign Ministry may not be solely at fault for the delay, said a source within the ministry. "Yes, we are the Foreign Ministry, but the Russian government is a much larger and much more complex structure," an official in Moscow said. "There are plenty of other structures that could be opposed to the easing of entry rules."

TITLE: Two Murders Alleged on Belarus Videotape
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: A videotape released in Belarus added new weight to allegations that a government-sponsored death squad murdered two major political opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko.
 On the videotape, distributed Monday to news outlets, two men who identify themselves as investigators for Belarus' KGB say that members of a special military unit abducted the two Lu ka shen ko opponents as they left a banya in September 1999, shot them in a forest and buried the bodies in a jeep in a sand-covered pit outside a military base.
 The account is the latest in a series of accusations about how Lukashenko's government has terrorized and repressed its critics. With a presidential election set for Sept. 9, Lukashenko's opponents are hoping these reports will persuade the country's 10 million people to depose the president, who abolished parliament, surrounded himself with an extensive security apparatus, cracked down on the media and presided over economic blight.
 Lukashenko struck back at the opposition Tuesday and threatened to take harsh measures against his opponents after the elections. 
 "These missing people are only useful to them until Sept. 9," he told journalists in Minsk, Interfax reported. Lukashenko said he intended to "put up with it until Sept. 9, but after the ninth would impose order, as in France or as is done in the United States or, if you wish, in Russia." 
 Only one of the three television stations in Belarus aired the tape, and that station has the least viewers, according to Alexander Tomkovich, editor of Den, an independent newspaper in Minsk.
 "The majority of people haven't seen this tape," Tomkovich said in a telephone interview. "The polls indicate that 40 percent of the people here in Belarus know nothing about these disappearances."
 The tape was aired Monday on the Russian channels NTV and TV6, though not on the main state channels ORT and RTR.
 Lukashenko on Tuesday demanded that Russian channels provide "objective information," Interfax reported. If they do not, "those channels will not work on Belarussian territory after the election," he was quoted as saying.
 Lukashenko said that in any case he will win the election and "you will have to live with this president, but we will not sell the country to anyone."
 According to a transcript of the videotape posted on the Web site of Charter 97, a human-rights group in Belarus, the two men were filmed on Saturday. 
 The KGB investigators say on the tape that they decided to pursue the disappearance of opposition leader Viktor Gonchar and his business associate Anatoly Krasovsky independently after an official inquiry produced no results.
 "Everyone seemed fine with the idea that these people vanished and the guilty ones could not be traced," says investigator Gennady Uglenitsa.
 Uglenitsa had told his wife before going to work Monday that he would not come back, Interfax reported Tuesday, citing his father-in-law, academician Radim Goretsky. Uglenitsa's family does not know where he is, the report said.
 The investigators based their account on the testimony of a driver for the military unit who witnessed the killings and has since gone into hiding, Uglenitsa said.
 According to Andrei Zhernosek, the second investigator, four soldiers abducted Gonchar and Krasovsky in a jeep, shot them, and returned to their barracks for dinner. The next day, according to Zhernosek, the soldiers dug a deep ditch, drove the jeep into it and concealed it with sand.
 Zhernosek said he and Uglenitsa, wearing camouflage and equipped with night-vision goggles, located the pit with a U.S.-made metal detector.
 The president said the men who made the tapes were taken to the West and "paid a lot of money."
 Two former investigators at the Belarussian Prosecutor General's Office - Dmitry Petrushkevich and Oleg Sluchek - were given asylum in the United States in June. The U.S. State Department said they have provided credible evidence that Lukashenko's regime created a death squad in 1996 to dispose of political opponents.
 
 <i>- WP, SPT </i>

TITLE: Plutonium ReductionAgreement Hits Snag
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - A long-discussed U.S.-Russian plan to stop production of weapons-grade plutonium in Russia has been stalled by funding shortages, and the government said Monday it had asked the United States to postpone its implementation. 
 The agreement - signed in September 1997 by then-U.S. Vice President Al Gore and then-Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin - was hailed at the time as a historic event and a big step in U.S. efforts to ensure that Moscow safeguards and reduces its vast nuclear stockpile. 
 But it already has faced delays because of disagreements over audit schemes that should ensure that the U.S. money committed to the project is spent properly. 
 The latest plan envisaged that two nuclear reactors in the Siberian city of Seversk, formerly a closed city called Tomsk-7, were to end plutonium production in 2002 and 2003, Itar-Tass reported. The third reactor in the Siberian city of Zheleznogorsk, or Krasnoyarsk-26 in Soviet times, was supposed to stop producing plutonium in 2004. The cities, as their former names suggest, are located in the Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk regions, respectively.
 The money crunch has continued, and Monday the cabinet's information department said that Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov had ordered the Nuclear Power Ministry to negotiate an amendment to the deal with U.S. officials. 
 It argued that Seversk reactors would have to keep working until the end of 2005, and the one in Zheleznogorsk until the end of 2006. 
 The military reactors also provide electricity and heat for the cities' residents and the U.S.-Russian agreement called for the two countries to share the costs of building replacement power facilities. 
 The agreement would convert the plutonium-producing plants to production of uranium for civilian power plants. 
 The proposed amendment, authorized by Kasyanov, said that the United States would help modify reactors or build alternative power facilities if funds are available. 
 Meanwhile, U.S. Republican Senator Richard Lugar was visiting Severodvinsk, a military port on Russia's northern coast that is the focus of efforts to dismantle scores of aging nuclear submarines with the help of U.S. funding. 
 Lugar, who arrived in Russia on Sunday, has complained of massive cuts in the programs designed to help Russia secure its vast cache of nuclear weapons and material, which environmental groups have said pose a major threat to the surrounding area. 
 He was inspecting a maintenance plant, U.S.-financed disposal projects and the shipyard before heading back to Moscow, then to Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading to Ukraine, according to the U.S. Embassy.

TITLE: Norway Gets Go-Ahead To Monitor Kursk
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: Divers working on the sunken Kursk submarine began piercing the last of 26 holes in the vessel's hull Tuesday, as a barge carrying equipment for the next phase of the salvage effort neared the disaster site, officials said. 
 For several weeks, the international team working in the Barents Sea has been cutting holes that will be used to attach steel cables to the vessel to hoist it to the surface. 
 Meanwhile, the Russian Navy has agreed to allow Norwegian government experts to monitor radiation levels around the Kursk submarine when the vessel is lifted next month, the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow said on Wednesday.
 Ole Horpestad, the embassy's charg&eacute; d'affaires, said he and Russian Navy commander Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov signed an agreement Tuesday that will allow two experts from the Norwegian Radiation Protection Board to monitor radiation levels around the Kursk site from a Russian vessel for a few days before and a few days after the lifting, scheduled for Sept. 15.
 The first compartment - mangled by the explosion that sank the Kursk last August, killing all 118 crewmen - will be left behind when the Kursk is raised. Russian officials say it could contain unexploded torpedoes. 
 Once the equipment barge arrives from Norway this week, preparations for severing the fore section are expected to take about a week and the cutting should take two days, Vyacheslav Zakharov, spokesperson for the Dutch company Mammoet, said in an interview posted on an official Kursk Web site. 
 Foul weather has caused delays in the operation recently, but officials maintain they are sticking to the original schedule, according to which the Kursk should be lifted Sept. 15 and then towed to harbor.

TITLE: South Korea Mulling Part in Railway Plan
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: VLADIVOSTOK, Far East - South Korea wants to join the project extending the Trans-Siberian railway across the Korean Peninsula, a spokesperson for Russia's Railways Ministry said Thursday.
 Top South Korean railroad officials are visiting Russia to assess some of the key features of the Trans-Siberian railroad, said Vladimir Pechyorin, a spokes person in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok.
 South Korea is interested in joining the agreement for upgrading the North Ko rean Railroad, which President Vla di mir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il signed earlier this month.
 The delegation, led by Son Hok Rae, director of South Korea's National Railroads Department, is expected to raise the issue on Sept. 4 during a scheduled meeting with Russia's Railways Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko in Moscow.
 &quot;They want the upgrade to take place with their involvement,&quot; Pechyorin said.
 Korean experts entered Russia on Tuesday and traveled to Khasan station, the link between the railway systems of Russia and North Korea. Content with the state of equipment and computerization on the Russian side, they offered help in modernizing the North Korean side of the link, Pechyorin said.
 On Thursday, the seven-member delegation flew to Novosibiirsk, a major Trans-Siberian station in western Siberia. Before Moscow, it also intends to stop over in St. Petersburg, which handles Asian cargoes in transit, heading for Finland and other northern European countries.
 A feasibility study to refit North Korean railways will start in September with Russia sending 60 experts there for two months, said Gennady Vedernikov, a spokesperson for the Railways Ministry's Far Eastern branch in Khabarovsk.
 The link across North Korea would allow Russia to be a transport bridge between South Korea's export-driven economy with the European market.
 Earlier this month Deputy Railways Minister Alexander Tselko said Russia was &quot;entering the highly competitive world of the transportation market, attracting large shipping volumes, creating new working places all along Trans-Siberian railroad and strengthening our position in the Far East.&quot;
 The project would cut the time needed to transport goods between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region from the 30 to 40 days required for sea transport to 13 to 18 days - and could drastically reduce carrying costs.
 The route's annual capacity could be boosted from 200,000 to 500,000 containers.
 Currently, of the 1 million containers hauled yearly between the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, only 5 percent traverse the Trans-Siberian.
 The railroad was originally meant to run from Seoul to Sinuiju, a city on North Korea's border with China. But Kim, during his visit, changed the route to follow North Korea's eastern coast, along the Sea of Japan, instead of the western coast, along the Yellow Sea, linking directly to Russia without crossing China.
 The link would start in Tumangun, on the Russia-North Korea border and end at the boundary between North and South Korea near Pyongyang.
 The project is just one part of Russia's railroad expansion, which is strongly supported by Putin and the Russian government.
 In addition to the link with the Trans-Korean railroad, the ministry is reviving a grandiose Stalin-era project to build a tunnel or a bridge to connect mainland Russia to the island of Sakhalin and then, by adding a bridge over the ocean, to connect Sakhalin to Japan.
 Last month, Aksyonenko said the $50 billion Sakhalin project would be launched at the end of this year.
 
 <i>- AP, SPT </i>

TITLE: FSC Ruling Says Family Ties At Gazprom Within the Law
AUTHOR: By Kirill Koriukin

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russia's main market watchdog said Wednesday that Gazprom managers did not violate the letter of the law when they sold shares in the gas giant on the cheap to companies run by their children and friends.
 The Federal Securities Commission said a 1994 sale of 5 percent of Gaz prom to Stroitransgaz for $2.5 million was legal. The value of the stake at the time has been estimated to be as much as $70 million, some 30 times more than was paid by Stroitransgaz, a pipeline builder.
 Former board member Arngolt Bekker and his daughter, along with the children of former Gazprom chiefs Viktor Chernomyrdin and Rem Vyakhirev, control Stroitransgaz.
 It's not up to the FSC to say whether or not a deal involves conflicts of interest, said Gennady Kolesnikov, FSC deputy chairperson. &quot;This function belongs to someone else, such as the Antimonopoly Ministry,&quot; he said.
 Traditionally, however, the commission has never been shy when it comes to criticizing shady deals - such as the ones involving Vyakhirev's and Chernomyrdin's children - that may violate the rights of minority shareholders.
 Kolesnikov said the FSC has never approved of any deals that even suggest a conflict of interest, adding that he wasn't singling out the Stroitransgaz affair in particular. In any dispute, the commission, he said, is always there to protect minority shareholders.
 The FSC, however, may well have to have an official, not just a moral, position regarding Gazprom stock transactions. Under a published draft presidential decree, it will be given the daunting task of making sure foreigners don't acquire more than 20 percent of Gazprom shares. This is part of the government plan to liberalize the murky market in trading the gas giant's securities.
 Worries over asset-stripping have been among the reasons analysts attribute to Gazprom's artificially low stock price.
 New Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, who replaced Vyakhirev earlier this year, has called raising the company's market capitalization - currently at about $10.6 billion - one of his top priorities.
 &quot;It's well-known that the value of such a company as ours should be at a minimum four times the current market capitalization,&quot; he said this week. &quot;An international audit of just three-quarters of the hydrocarbon reserves belonging to the company came to a valuation of their worth of more than $40 billion.&quot;

TITLE: Ad Blitz Lifting Beer Cans' Popularity
AUTHOR: By Simon Ostrovsky 

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Two aluminum-can makers have launched a $3 million television advertising campaign to wean Russian beer drinkers off the bottle.
 The Russian subsidiary of Rexam PLC, the world's largest beverage-can maker, and Russian Aluminum's subsidiary Rostar have put aside their rivalry to work together on improving the image of cans among bottle-bred beer drinkers.
 &quot;We started the campaign last year and are continuing now with the slogan, 'The aluminum can: One more reason to love your beer,'&quot; said Anto Saar, Rexam Russia's marketing director in an E-mail interview last week.
 And consumers appear to be listening. Rexam Russia recorded a 50 percent increase in sales of aluminum cans from last year.
 The joint advertising campaign cost $1 million last year and the two companies plan to spend another $2 million this year to dispel commonly held myths about beer in aluminum cans.
 &quot;People are under the impression that beer in cans has preservatives, but that belief has decreased by 20 percent since the beginning of our campaign last year,&quot; said Saar, quoting research done by Rexam. &quot;Another myth is that canned beer retains a metallic aftertaste. This is impossible. A coating on the inside of every beverage can prevents the beer from ever coming into contact with the aluminum.&quot;
 The campaign introduced two short commercials on all major Russian television channels last June. In total, three commercials were developed by ARS communications, Somerset Hart and the Dago and Top Film Studios. 
 The commercials do not advertise specific breweries but promote aluminum cans as a preferred package for beer in general. But Kotova said the cans in the commercials do have the basic color schemes of popular beer brands.
 &quot;We don't mind that they're using our image. It's also in our interest that the canning industry develop. It gives us more options,&quot; said Maxim Dozmarov, head of Baltika's marketing department.
 But more importantly, say proponents in the beverage industry, cans work out to be a more economically viable option than bottles. In the short term, the difference is negligible. Brewers and can producers said the cost to the beverage producer for both bottles and cans hovers around 3 rubles ($0.10).
 But over the long term, Rostar's marketing director, Vladimir Nichi poruk, said the benefits are numerous. &quot;Cans take up less space, weigh less, carry cheaper labels and are 100 percent recyclable as opposed to bottles, which today are cleaned and can be reused no more than 10 times due to heat exposure in the pasteurization process,&quot; he said.
 Only 0.07 percent of beers were canned last year, Nichiporuk said. This year that figure increased to between 3 percent and 4 percent.
 The rise in the amount of beer being sold in cans will not translate directly in a rise in sales. Nichiporuk says that Baltic Beverage Holdings (BBH), which through its Baltika and other brands is the largest beer producer in Russia, buys its cans from Can Pack, a Polish aluminum-can producer. Carlsberg Breweries owns a 50 percent stake in BBH and has a worldwide agreement with Can Pack to supply the cans for its breweries.
 The Rexam Russia and Rostar sites are the only two factories producing aluminum cans in Russia. Rostar opened its plant in the Moscow Oblast in 1998 at a cost of $100 million. Rexam Russia's plant - also located in the Moscow Oblast - was opened the same year with a price tag of $150 million. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development put up $45 million of the cost and holds 30 percent of Rexam Russia's shares.
 Rexam's factory, Rexam 6, predicts output to top off at 1 billion cans this year, a 50 percent increase on last year's figures, while Rostar production volume will equals 1.5 billion cans.

TITLE: More Banks Weigh In Against Reform Package
AUTHOR: By Torrey Clark

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Some two dozen midsized banks Wednesday railed against a banking-reform plan put forward by the country's most powerful industrialists, warning that it would lead to a private banking monopoly.
 In a letter to top government officials, the banks added to the howl of protest heard over the past several weeks from, among others, the Finance Ministry, the Central Bank and several banking associations, who say a plan sponsored by the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, or RSPP, could destabilize the banking system, create an uneven playing field, and lead to a monopoly within the sector.
 The RSPP's plan, drawn up by Alexander Mamut, head of MDM-Bank's supervisory board, is under fire for its proposal to split banks into two levels, federal and regional, based on capitalization. The plan proposes raising minimal capital limits to about $100 million for federal banks and $7 million for regional banks over the next three years.
 Both sides agree the banking sector suffers from undercapitalization. The total banking capital of the country's 1,322 bank-like organizations totaled about $17 billion in the first half of the year, with state-owned Sberbank and Vneshtorgbank together accounting for about a fifth of that amount.
 Such minimum requirements, imposed over a short period, would put hundreds of small banks out of business. Proponents of the plan say the sector should be weeded out because smaller banks are inefficient and clog the system.
 &quot;The risk level of small and large banks is almost equal,&quot; said Mikhail Matovnikov, deputy director of Interfax rating agency. &quot;An increase in capital does not necessarily mean an increase in diversity. In fact, it can increase risk.&quot;
 The government is set to discuss banking reform on Sept. 27.

TITLE: Mosenergo Chief, UES Set for Showdown
AUTHOR: By Alla Startseva

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The federal government stepped into the already heated battle for control of Moscow's electricity and heat supply Thursday, throwing its weight behind Anatoly Chubais' efforts to strengthen his grip on Mosenergo ahead of a controversial shareholders vote.
 Chubais, head of Unified Energy Systems, which owns 52 percent of Mosenergo, accuses the utility's director, Alexander Remezov, of financial mismanagement and wants him sacked at an extraordinary shareholders meeting scheduled for Friday.
 But Remezov, who has been cleared of any malfeasance in two external audits, has the support of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and City Hall, which owns just under 3 percent of Mosenergo and publicly railed against UES this week and threatened to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against it.
 On Tuesday, Luzhkov blasted UES for trying to restructure its $120 million debt to the city and threatened to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the national power monopoly.
 &quot;Don't even approach us with these proposals,&quot; the mayor chastened. 
 Luzhkov publicly congratulated Remezov on his 47th birthday Wednesday and thanked him for his work at Mosenergo, Interfax reported. Luzhkov was also quoted as saying that he intends to fight &quot;the unfairness&quot; of the UES effort to remove Remezov.
 Energy Minister Igor Yusufov chimed in Thursday, accusing City Hall of trying to exceed its authority. &quot;Moscow authorities have no right to initiate bankruptcy procedures against UES,&quot; he said. &quot;[And] the question of replacing the management of units of UES is an internal corporate matter and must be solved according to legislation,&quot; Interfax quoted him as saying.
 When asked about the government's position concerning the battle for Mosenergo, Yusufov said that UES is a state-owned company and that &quot;principle decisions regarding UES are made in accordance with directives from the government.&quot; 
 Despite the full weight of the government and the national power grid bearing down on him, however, Remezov won't go quietly.
 With less than 24 hours before the vote, he took to the airwaves to defend himself, reiterating his contention - backed by court rulings - that Friday's meeting is illegal, and hinted that he may physically try to block UES representatives from convening at Mosenergo's headquarters.
 &quot;If UES would tell me 'you've done a good job, but we have different plans,' I would obey its decision [to sack me],&quot; Remezov told Ekho Moskvy. &quot;But when accusations of mismanagement have been distributed I will defend myself,&quot; he said. 
 &quot;The problem is not in being replaced - UES wants to discredit me as a manager,&quot; Remezov said.
 When asked if representatives of UES would be let into Mosenergo's building on Friday, he said, &quot;Yes, but it depends on who,&quot; Interfax reported. He did not elaborate.
 &quot;The conflict is from the fact that UES has slandered me and because of that it wants to sack me,&quot; he said. &quot;I am ready to obey the order of the shareholders meeting, but only a legitimate one.&quot;
 The two-month-long battle has seen a flurry of legal activity, with numerous lawsuits and counter-suits from various courts around the country.
 UES said Thurs day that a court in the Si be rian town of Kemerovo had upheld a shareholder's complaint that Remezov wasn't carrying out the directive of Mosenergo's board and declared Friday's meeting valid.
 On Wednesday, Remezov said UES was plotting to remove him by force with the help of court bailiffs so it wouldn't risk not being able to hold the meeting at Mosenergo headquarters.
 He also said law enforcement authorities, including the Federal Security Service and the Prosecutor General's Office, had been notified about the plan and the police patrols had been stationed around the building, an appearance he said was tied to a decision by anti-terrorist police.
 &quot;Strange cars have been seen near the company's premises, and photographs have been taken,&quot; Remezov said.
 There were two security guards armed with AK-47s stationed in front of Mosenergo's building in central Moscow, but as of late Thursday no bailiffs had come.
 &quot;We are waiting for the bailiffs to come any minute with a court order,&quot; said company spokesperson Vera Vino gradova.
 But Remezov has his own court orders - he told Ekho Moskvy three of them - banning the meeting. &quot;One court's decision does not revoke the decision of another court,&quot; Interfax quoted him as saying Thursday evening.
 One of the court victories mentioned by Remezov came as a result of a suit brought by Luzhkov's deputy, Boris Nikolsky, who also represents the city on Mosenergo's board. 
 A local court ruled the meeting illegal on Tuesday, but the Moscow Arbitration Court reversed that decision Thursday.
 Another Luzhkov deputy, Valery Shantsev, added his 2 cents Thursday. He called the way UES was ignoring the opinion of the city &quot;abnormal.&quot; 
 &quot;It is an abnormal situation when the opinion of a subject of the Russian Federation is not taken into account when replacing the head of a regional energy system,&quot; said Shantsev.
 Moscow &quot;would like to participate in the appointment of the head of Mosenergo,&quot; he added.
 Mosenergo is Russia's largest power company, producing 8 percent of the country's electricity and 6 percent of its heating. It is has a monopoly in Moscow and the surrounding region and controls more than 20,000 kilometers of high- and low-voltage grids that service 16 million people.
 Remezov took charge of Mosenergo in May 2000, a year the company posted revenues of just 13,901 billion rubles ($489 million). Through the first half of this year, however, revenues have already reached 21,968 billion rubles or 56.2 percent more then all of 2000.

TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Used-Car Duties
 

MOSCOW (Vedomosti) - The government is considering doubling the customs duties on older imported cars in hopes of protecting the domestic auto industry and keeping out cars that fail to meet Europe's new environmental standards.
 A trade-protection working group has proposed hiking the duties on three- to seven-year-old cars to 80 percent of the customs value and on older cars to 160 percent.
 The trade protection commission, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, will discuss the increase when it meets in September.
 
 
SibAl Eyes Moskvich
 

MOSCOW (Vedomosti) - Siberian Aluminum subsidiary Rospromavto has been making eyes at Moskvich, but its success depends on whether the Moscow city government can claim the controlling share in the automaker from the federal authorities.
 Under a 1997 decree, the State Property Fund is to transfer a 59 percent share in Moskvich to the city of Moscow. The fund, however, demands that a $625 million loan the plant took in 1987 be settled first.
 Rospromavto head Dmitry Strezhnev has been meeting with the deputy mayor, Valery Shantsev, and Moskvich head Ruben Asatryan, ostensibly to study the condition of the plant.
 
 
Gems Exports to Israel
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Russia exported $327 million worth of gems to Israel in the first half of the year, an Economic Development and Trade Ministry official said Wednesday, Prime-Tass reported.
 Gems accounted for 70 percent of Russia's $468 million in total exports to Israel during that period. Other exports included oil, rolled stock, lumber, machinery, vehicles and grain.
 Russia's imports from Israel - primarily telecommunication equipment, medicines, and agricultural products - totaled $62.3 million
 
 
Precious-Metal Trade
 

MOSCOW (SPT) - Russia will resume in full exports of refined precious metals exports after Sept. 10, Deputy Finance Minister Valery Rudakov said Wednesday, Prime-Tass reported.
 Exports stopped Aug. 25 when a presidential decree came into effect before the required control mechanisms had been prepared.
 "The problem will be solved before Sept. 10," he said.
 Rudakov, who is also chairman of Gokhran, the state precious-metals and gems reserve, said the government suspended exports, except those on long-term contracts, to prepare additional regulatory documents.
 The decree was signed by President Vladimir Putin in January.
 
 
Ohio Hosts Russians
 

PHILADELPHIA, Ohio (AP) - Russians visiting this eastern Ohio community to learn more about American business share a goal with their Ohio counterparts: They want to attract companies.
 Thirteen Russians, all business directors or owners in wholesale foods, are visiting Ohio through Sept. 16.
 "We need American business in Russia to expand abroad," said Dmitry Mikhailov, commercial sales director for Fedesko, a wholesale and import/export operation in the city of Taganrog.
 Mikhaylov said American business in Russia would serve as an indicator of success that could prompt European businesses to locate in Russia. 



TITLE: EU Taking Deeper Look Into Microsoft Operating Systems
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union regulators widened their investigation into Microsoft on Thursday, warning that the software giant may be violating antitrust laws by tying its Media Player into its Windows operating system.
 The European Commission also alleged Microsoft may have used &quot;illegal practices&quot; to extend dominance in personal computers into server markets.
 The EU's executive arm said a formal statement of objections was sent to Microsoft following an investigation into its Windows 2000 operating system launched last February.
 The commission sent a statement of objections to Microsoft regarding the Sun case last year and is examining the company's reply.
 The latest objections add &quot;a new dimension to the commission's concerns that Microsoft's actions may harm innovation and restrict choice for consumers,&quot; the commission said.
 Microsoft has two months to respond to the commission. A Microsoft spokes person had no immediate comment.
 Commission spokesperson Amelia Torres stressed that the EU probe is &quot;factually and legally separate&quot; from Microsoft's problems in the United States. But she said the U.S. Justice Department was informed beforehand about the EU's move.
 The U.S. antitrust case against the company is focused on determining what penalty Microsoft should face for illegally trying to squelch competitors.
 One new aspect of the widened EU probe involves Microsoft's Media Player, which allows consumers to see and hear audio and video files.
 By illegally tying the product into its Windows lineup, Microsoft may be depriving computer makers and consumers of &quot;free choice&quot; over which brand of player they want to use &quot;as there are no ready technical means to remove or uninstall&quot; it, the commission alleged.
 The players are important because they will &quot;play an important role in making Internet content and electronic commerce more attractive,&quot; Competition Commissioner Ma rio Monti said.
 The commission said Microsoft also may have violated antitrust laws by using &quot;illegal practices&quot; to extend its dominant position in the market for personal-computer operating systems into the market for low-end server operating systems.
 Specifically, Microsoft may have withheld from outside software vendors key information that they need to enable their products to &quot;talk&quot; with personal computers running on Microsoft Windows, the commission alleged.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Down-Under Discount
 

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Australia's biggest airline, Qantas, said Thursday its proposed discount international airline, Australian Airlines, is expected to start operating on routes to Asia next year.
 Qantas' executive general manager for marketing, Denis Adams, has been named chief executive of the proposed new carrier.
 "We expect Australian Airlines to begin operating in the second half of 2002, initially flying routes into Asia," said Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon.
 Dixon said the no-frills airline would also take over some current unprofitable Qantas routes.
 
 
Argentina Loan
 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank on Tuesday approved a $400 million loan for Argentina, backing social programs, tax administration, health-insurance regulation and improvements to provincial fiscal management.
 The structural adjustment loan, which is part of a previously agreed $2.4 billion World Bank package for the Latin American country for 2001 and 2002, will be made available in two installments.
 The bank said in a statement that $200 million will be available immediately while the remainder will be paid upon the completion of agreed reforms.
 The loan is part of a $40 billion International Monetary Fund-led package for Argentina agreed upon last December.
 
 
Branching Out
 

DUBAI (Reuters) - Oil giant Saudi Aramco is steaming ahead with the expansion of its Master Gas System (MGS) which aims to speed industrialization and diversify the kingdom's oil-dependent economy.
 The grass roots Hawiyah gas plant, in the final stages of completion, is expected to start processing gas in September and come fully on stream in December, according to Saudi Aramco.
 The new plant, the fourth in the kingdom's MGS, will boost the of sales gas to utilities and industries by 1.4 bil39.64 million cu meters per day.
 
 
GM, DaewooTalks
 

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) - General Motors said on Thursday that takeover talks with creditors of South Korea's bankrupt Daewoo Motors were still on, despite a newspaper report that GM had dubbed further negotiations "meaningless."
 South Korea's finance minister has asked the two sides to clarify where talks stand by Friday.
 "GM told us they view further talks to buy Daewoo Motors as meaningless if there is no change in the Korean government's stance," an unnamed government official told the Korea Economic Daily in its early Friday edition.
 But a GM spokesperson called the report "speculative."
 "We're still engaged and discussions are under way," said GM Asia-Pacific spokesperson Rob Leggat.
 
 
Coke Seeks Control
 

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. said on Thursday it was trying to take over the management of its largest German bottler, the latest step in an effort to turn around disappointing growth in Germany.
 The soft-drinks giant confirmed it wants its own people at the helm of Berlin-based Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetraenke, which bottles 70 percent of Coke products in Germany.
 The German arm of Coca-Cola owns about 42 percent of the bottler. The other major shareholders are Stuttgarter Hofbrau, which holds about 11 percent, and Bayerische Brau Holding and its related businesses, which hold about 30 percent.
 Chandler said both of the German brewers are amenable to the plan so far, adding that the new management would be a partnership with the other shareholders. Coke also will have to get minor shareholders to agree and win regulatory approval. 



TITLE: Gateway Continues Job Cuts
AUTHOR: By Seth Hettena

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: SAN DIEGO, California - Gateway Corp. has pulled the plug on operations in Asia and slashed a quarter of its worldwide work force as part of a new strategy that moves the computer retailer further from its roots as a maker of low-cost personal computers.
 Gateway chairperson and Chief Executive Ted Waitt said the layoffs of 4,700 employees were part of a restructuring that would take the company &quot;beyond the box.&quot;
 Sales of the &quot;box,&quot; or the personal computer, fell worldwide for the first time this year since Waitt started making affordable computers 16 years ago. Analysts say consumers see no reason to make the upgrades in the new millennium that kept shipments in double-digit growth year after year.
 Gateway has been hit especially hard, due, in part, to its focus on the shrinking U.S. industry. The company lost more than $500 million in the first six months of the year and has seen its stock price slump nearly 88 percent off its 52-week high.
 Outlining his plan Tuesday for the &quot;transformation of Gateway,&quot; Waitt said the company would move aggressively to tap high-margin, high-growth U.S. technology markets in five new areas: networking, software applications, training, financing and support services.
 &quot;We're going after a much bigger pie than we've talked about before,&quot; Waitt said.
 Gateway lacks the distribution, brand awareness and local presence to do well overseas, Waitt said, adding, &quot;We don't have to be a global business to succeed.&quot;
 Analysts, however, were cool to Gateway's new plans.
 &quot;In a sense, they are changing the company charter,&quot; said Eric Rothdeutsch, a computer-industry analyst for Robertson Step hens in San Francisco. &quot;I think the jury is going to be out for quite a while until they start to show some results.&quot;
 The company, with 19,000 employees worldwide, said it will immediately close all of its company-owned operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Aust ralia and New Zealand. Plans are underway to exit key markets in Europe. About 2,500 jobs will be cut overseas.
 The rest of the layoffs will target the company's 16,500 U.S. work force. Gateway is closing customer service and sales centers in Hampton, Virginia.; Vermillion, South Dakota; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Lake Forest, Illinois. An assembly plant in Salt Lake City also will be shuttered.
 Gateway says the layoffs will save the company about $300 million a year, although the computer maker said it will take a onetime charge of $475 million due to restructuring and layoffs. Waitt said Gateway expects to become profitable in the fourth quarter of 2001 and the company will have $1 billion in cash on hand by year's end.

TITLE: A Bankrupt President
AUTHOR: By Alexander Yegorov
 <i>
TEXT: &quot;I promised to take the people away from the edge of the abyss, save Belarus from an economic collapse and political chaos.&quot;
 </i>Alexander Lukashenko's campaign platform.
 
 MY fellow Belarussian citizens! Read carefully Alexander Lukashenko's campaign platform and decide, from your heart, whether he has carried out his past promises. At the same time, remember how he keeps saying, &quot;Together with you, we ...&quot;
 It turns out that it was together with us that &quot;they&quot; - Lukashenko, president of Belarus, head of the legislative, executive and judiciary branches, who like Comrade Stalin can be referred to as &quot;the best friend&quot; of factory and state farm directors, workers and peasants, teachers and athletes, scientists and doctors, members of trade unions and political parties, children and pensioners, soldiers, etc., etc. - &quot;accomplished much of what could be done in this short period of time.&quot; Seven years, that is.
 It turns out that together with us, &quot;they&quot; have kept our national property safe from us taking it into our own hands and beginning to live as in civilized Europe. It turns out that together with us, &quot;they&quot; have &quot;built a truly independent and sovereign state&quot; - in fact, so independent that nothing in it depends on us and nobody in the civilized world wants to talk to &quot;them.&quot;
 Even &quot;their&quot; (it seems to be improper now to say &quot;his&quot;) official statistics have to admit that we have not only failed to reach the 1990 level (by any economic parameter), but are thrown back 30 or 40 years. In agriculture, we are about 50 years behind, and in the number of dairy cattle and pigs - 85 years behind.
 According to the official statistics, the purchasing power of an average salary in 1993, which &quot;they&quot; describe as the low point of the state's crisis, was 85.5 percent of the 1990 figures, or 229 rubles at their 1990 value.
 After the first year of &quot;their&quot; rule the purchasing power of an average monthly wage dropped to 140 rubles at 1990 value, and in July this year it constituted 82 1990 rubles, or 30 percent of the average salary in 1990. Belaruski Chas weekly published these figures several times, and the government never denied it.
 Now let's do the math. The National Bank's exchange rate in 1990 was 1.67 rubles per U.S. dollar. That means that the average salary in 1990 equaled $160.50 According to the same logic, it was $137.20 in 1993, $83.70 in 1994 and in July this year it reached the level of $48, if you use the 1990 exchange rate. In the meantime, the government says that the average salary in the country equals a much-desired $100.
 This gives us every reason to say that, taking into account the decline of industrial and agricultural output, the real exchange rate in Belarus is two times higher than the official exchange rate. This boil will either burst by itself - and then we will face a catastrophe - or it has to be removed surgically.
 After seven years of President Lukashenko's rule, we have ended up with a complete collapse of the country's financial system. Discounting for the redenomination, we have 206,000 (two hundred six thousand!) percent inflation from January 1994 to August 2001.
 That is why &quot;they&quot; are unable to answer a simple question: If &quot;they&quot; assured us in May of this year that the country has outdone 1990 figures in all economic parameters, why did the wages drop so low?
 &quot;They&quot; have no options other than to stand in the dead end to which &quot;they&quot; have led themselves and us, with our obedient consent, and lie. Are we silent? So they joyfully announce that everything &quot;they&quot; have accomplished was done &quot;together with us.&quot; Together with me, with you, with others. You agree? I don't.
 During seven years, the country has failed, collapsed and become paralyzed. I repeat: All these data were taken from official, non-classified sources.
 Now tell me: How can one speak of any guarantees for the Belarussian people based on such an economic swamp? What are these guarantees going to be made of? Air?
 In order to assess a document, you don't always have to analyze all of it. One paragraph is sometimes enough.
 Here is a quote from Lukashenko's platform: &quot;People who suffered from the Chernobyl catastrophe have been well cared for by the president during all these years. It will remain so in the future. Chernobyl is the pain and the heavy cross for our people to bear.&quot;
 In this passage, only the words about Chernobyl being the pain and the cross of Belarus are true. All the rest is a lie.
 In 1990, 22 percent of the budget, or almost $2 billion, was allocated for the &quot;liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster.&quot; In 2000, it was 1.7 percent of the state budget, or $30 million. Today, the entire state budget is less than what was spent on Chernobyl in 1990. That also shows Lukashenko's work. The collapse of the budget is the collapse and the shame of the state.
 The president has indeed cared well for the Chernobyl victims, just like he has for the Belarussian people. He put up the barricades and sentenced the country to die out.
 Why? Because throughout all these years, Lukashenko has worked not together with us, but against us. He has betrayed the people who believed in him and trusted him to be the first president. Yes, indeed he has done a lot. Well, let us entrust him with doing still more.
 
 <i>Alexander Yegorov is a commentator with Minsk weekly Belaruski Chas, to which he contributed this comment. </i>

TITLE: You'd Expect They'd Want The Publicity
TEXT: AS a last way of earning some cash before I finally leave these shores, I have teamed up with a former colleague at this newspaper to update one of those international guidebooks to St. Petersburg. This puts me in the unusual position of going to see many of the city's famous landmarks right at the end of my five-year tour of duty, instead of at the beginning, like most normal people.
 This is an unexpectedly strange experience, forcing me to pay close attention to bits of the metropolis that I had previously walked past on millions of occasions without a second glance, reassess restaurants and bars I haven't been to for many moons, and, of course, deal with people I have done extremely well to avoid - until now.
 I conclude that St. Petersburg has improved mightily as a tourist destination since I arrived on Sept. 2, 1997 (previously I had worked in a children's summer camp in the Leningrad Oblast in 1994, with occasional stays in the city, but that doesn't count). There are far more tourist-friendly things around - more restaurants, clubs, shops, ATMs and so on - and while there are no more tsarist-era palaces being built (unless you count some of the swanky business centers), many of those that do exist have undergone at least cosmetic refurbishment, installed better ticket offices, maybe a computer or two. It is possible to get a decent cup of coffee.
 There is even a tourist office, staffed by people who tend to throw maps at you rather than offer their own advice, but it's a start. And some of the most unlikely people speak English, or manage to deal with tourists in a combination of broken English, excruciating Russian, frantic sign language and bits of paper. All in all, as more tourists arrive, so the infrastructure improves. Which is chicken and which is egg, I'm not sure.
 But the biggest mistake you can make as a guidebook updater is to let receptionists, bureaucrats, cashiers and other officials know who you are. &quot;Good afternoon!&quot; I smile winningly, holding the last edition up. &quot;I work for this and would like to know how many rooms you have in your hotel. Do you take credit cards? Do you have cable TV/a beauty center/business facilities?&quot; People are just dying to get their names in a guidebook, right?
 No. What they want to do is call the FSB and have you locked up for spying. Phase one is the look on someone's face when I say who I am: up goes the mental drawbridge, down the portcullis and archers appear on the ramparts. 
 &quot;They think you're a door-to-door salesman trying to flog the book,&quot; said my wife. 
 Phase two is the surly face of Soviet bureaucracy: deflect all questions, deny everything, remember nothing. It's amazing how many hotel receptionists and PR officers have absolutely no idea how many rooms the hotel has. Wander into a restaurant, leaf through the menu, fiddle with the cutlery, poke your head into the kitchens, no problem if you're incognito and feign a Spanish accent. Mention you're from a guidebook, though, and it's klaxon time - Dive! Dive! Dive!
 You'll have to wait for the manager to arrive, except that he's on holiday. For three weeks. On one of Saturn's rings. Could be four weeks. Sorry. Bye.
 As a result, I'm hideously behind deadline and the frantic e-mails from my editor in New York are piling up. It's a bit like being a journalist, really.
 
 <i>Barnaby Thompson is a former editor of The St. Petersburg Times. </i>

TITLE: What Is the Delay With These Visas?
TEXT: WHEN President Vladimir Putin showed up unexpectedly in town on Aug. 15 for a round of hush-hush nocturnal meetings with Northwest Region Governor General Viktor Cher ke sov, Governor Vladimir Yakovlev and Le nin grad Oblast Governor Valery Ser dyukov, the rumor mill immediately started buzzing with the idea that he'd come to discuss moving the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
 Happily, all the participants have more or less denied this speculation, and we can only hope that they are telling the truth. Despite the fantasies of those who think that such a move would actually benefit the city, there can be no doubt that doing so would be an unmitigated disaster. Probably the only thing our city has to thank Vladimir Lenin for is that he moved the capital to Moscow in 1918.
 It would certainly be a refreshing change if those who claim to be interested in St. Petersburg's well-being would expend their considerable energies on projects that would actually be helpful - such as a seriously simplified visa regime that would immediately and significantly increase tourism, increase the budget revenues associated with tourism, increase the economic activity that accompanies tourism and enable St. Petersburg to take the place among the world's great cities that it so richly deserves.
 For a decade, the city has been pushing for a sensible system and meeting only pig-headed resistance from the Foreign Ministry, which incomprehensibly insists on setting visa policy based on some pride-driven notion of parity with other countries rather than based on Russia's best interests. Finally in June the government made at least some concession, authorizing a system under which tourists staying in Russia less than 72 hours could get visas at the border for a reasonable fee.
 This system is needlessly limited and far from what the city needs, but it is an important concession and a step in the right direction. However, now September is at hand, and we seem to be no closer to implementing even this simple reform. Local authorities say that they are ready, but that they can do nothing until they receive the inevitable &quot;letter from Moscow&quot; telling them to go ahead.
 And Moscow is in no hurry. A source at the Foreign Ministry told The St. Petersburg Times that &quot;there are plenty of other structures that could be opposed to the easing of entry rules.&quot; If President Putin would like to do something sensible to benefit his hometown - and we would like to think that he does - he could find out what the delay is all about. Maybe Cherkesov will give him a call?

TITLE: New Military Cuts Are Illusory
AUTHOR: By Pavel Felgenhauer

TEXT: LAST November, the Security Council approved a military-reform plan that included significant cuts in military personnel. It was announced that up to 600,000 men are to be cut at the so-called power ministries, of which 360,000 are servicemen and 120,000 civilian Defense Ministry employees.
 Since 1999, the Russian authorities have been insisting that there are 1.2 million servicemen under the Defense Ministry. It was assumed by many that by 2005 or even earlier, the armed forces would be reduced to between 800,000 and 850,000 people - a number the country could properly feed, arm and maintain.
 Last March, President Vladimir Putin appointed Sergei Ivanov as the new defense minister. It was believed that Putin had chosen his right-hand man, who as Security Council secretary had devised the reform plan, in order to speed up reorganization of the Defense Ministry.
 Today it's pretty clear that such assumptions were not entirely correct.
 It transpired that Russian officials were deliberately lying about the strength of their armed forces. The military recently announced that as of Jan. 1, 2001, there were 1,365,000 servicemen under the Defense Ministry, not 1.2 million as had previously been stated. If all goes according to plan, by 2005 Russia will have not 800,000, but 1 million men under arms.
 Today, Defense Ministry officials say that a 1 million-strong force is &quot;optimal for Russia, taking into consideration its geography and the potential military risks.&quot;
 But will even such modest cuts materialize? Officials lied about the numbers to cover up their failure to enact cuts announced to fanfare in the 1990s, so what will stop them from doing it again? Former defense minister Igor Sergeyev, who deceived the Russian public regarding the true size of the military, has been ousted, but is not at all in disgrace. Today he is working in the Kremlin as an adviser to Putin and is actively participating in negotiations with the Americans on forming a new global strategic framework. Apparently, the generals were just deceiving the Russian public and not their political masters in the Kremlin.
 Russia inherited armed forces from the Soviet Union some 3 million strong. Since then, they have been cut time and again, but this has not led to any improvements. Today, life in the ranks is, by all accounts, more miserable than in Soviet times and only getting worse.
 Fatal accidents, often caused by badly trained personnel misusing equipment, plague the armed forces. Hazing of conscripts is rampant. It was recently announced that in the first half of 2001 the number of felonies committed by servicemen increased by 27 percent. Military prosecutors say that half of them are serious felonies and believe that &quot;the pitiful social conditions of officers are mostly to blame.&quot;
 One of the main reasons for the current crisis in the Russian military is that right from the outset all cuts in manpower and capabilities were largely faked. Today, there are 2.3 million servicemen under the Defense Ministry and other Russian power ministries. This figure does not include an additional 1 million civilian employees (most of them in the Defense Ministry), many of whom are in fact servicemen in disguise. Russia's centralized police force - mostly recruited from former military personnel and even paramilitary OMON units - are also not included.
 The true number of men under arms in today's Russia is 4 million to 5 million (most likely closer to 5 million). Last week the Defense Ministry announced that &quot;in 2001, 25,000 servicemen have already been cut and 70,000 more will go by 2002.&quot; It also announced that &quot;reforms will be hastened.&quot; But will these cuts be any different from the previous ones, and what is really behind the present round of reforms?
 Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Russia's military chiefs have not been reforming, but deliberately trying to maintain the old forces until &quot;the bad years&quot; pass, the empire is restored to its former glory and the country is flush with money. Today, with Putin and Ivanov at the helm, many believe the good times are coming back.
 Last year, Putin signed an ambitious defense doctrine that orders the Defense Ministry to ready itself for future global military confrontations. This year Putin signed a no-less-ambitious naval doctrine. Well-informed sources say that the navy has prepared a plan that envisages eventually building a fleet with up to 15 aircraft carriers to challenge the United States on the open seas.
 Of course, with such ambitions in mind (and apparently shared by Putin and Ivanov), true reform is impossible. What's also clear is that the rank and file will continue to suffer.
 
 <i>Pavel Felgenhauer is an independent defense analyst. </i>

TITLE: Lukashenko Is Making Farce Out of Elections
TEXT: AS is so often the case during presidential elections within the former Soviet Union - and Russia, sadly, is no exception - the political situation in Belarus is becoming nastier and nastier as the Sept. 9 polling date approaches. And, as is also usually the case, the blame rests squarely on the current government.
 For months now, charges have been flying that the administration of President Alexander Luka shen ko has controlled a death squad that has been quietly eliminating anyone whose political activity is not to the president's liking. Some reports put the body count at 30 or more.
 As the election campaign enters its final phase, the charges are becoming more heated. This week, officials claiming to have worked in the Belarussian KGB and for the Interior Ministry have come forward with some pretty specific and incriminating details to bolster the previous testimony of two former investigators in the Belarussian Prosecutor General's Office. The U.S. State Department has called the investigators' testimony &quot;detailed and credible.&quot;
 Lukashenko, in his trademark blustering style, has declared the accusations a foreign provocation. He has threatened to crack down on the opposition and the media after the election, mysteriously promising that he will &quot;impose order, as is done in France or in the United States or, if you wish, in Russia.&quot;
 He has promised to close down media that, during the campaign, do not provide what he deems to be &quot;objective information.&quot; Betraying a certainty of victory that would not be possible in a democratic country, he told journalists, &quot;you will have to live with this president.&quot;
 It could, theoretically, be true that the charges are a Western provocation or that the 30 missing opponents, some of whom disappeared as long ago as 1996, are merely hiding in an effort to discredit Lukashenko. 
 We imagine that had the president - who is responsible for ensuring free elections, not to mention basic law and order - insisted upon comprehensive, independent investigations all along, we would know that by now. 
 Instead, Lukashenko and his administration have hindered any investigation and have intimidated witnesses to the point that they fear for their lives. Moreover, with his iron grip on the media - a grip so firm that as many as 40 percent of Belarussian voters have not even heard about these disappearances - Lukashenko has prevented independent journalistic investigation or even an open discussion of the charges. 
 Had Lukashenko, in his seven years in power, fostered even a semi-democratic system, his party would now be rescinding his nomination.
 
 <i>This comment appeared as an editorial in The Moscow Times on Aug. 30. </i>

TITLE: Humiliated and Punished, Palestinians Have No Way Out
AUTHOR: By Muhanned Tull

TEXT: IT was a normal family conversation. My wife was talking about her brother who lives in the Netherlands and how happy he was, and our 6-year-old daughter interrupted. &quot;Let us go visit him,&quot; she said. She thought for a moment, though, and added casually, &quot;But we can't, the road is closed.&quot; 
 There was no tone of sadness or disappointment in the child's voice. To her, this is normal. All through the summer holidays, we have been repeating &quot;the road is closed&quot; to our two daughters to explain to them why we are not taking them anywhere this year. The swimming pool, their grandfather's house, the Netherlands, the moon are all equally out of reach. 
 She and her little sister accept this without question - and that is painful to me. Occupation, soldiers, checkpoints, restrictions, dominate their lives. This is the context that CNN does not convey when it shows the tragedy of a suicide bombing: We have become a people with so little freedom and so little hope that suicide seems a reasonable weapon. 
 The restrictions were harsh enough before the bombing of the discotheque in Tel Aviv on June 1. Since then, however, 3 million Palestinians have been besieged within their own communities. Our cities and villages are prisons with blocked entrances guarded by armed soldiers in armored personnel carriers (APCs). Israeli troops have made it almost impossible for people to carry on their everyday lives - to get to work, to buy food, to see a doctor, to visit a friend in a neighboring town. 
 And Israelis wonder why we are so angry. What do they expect? I live just 8 kilometers from Ramallah, the city at the center of Palestinian life and culture these days. The only road on which a Palestinian is permitted to drive into the city is blocked by a checkpoint. Every car is stopped. We line up by the hundreds and are let through one at a time. Passing takes between two and three hours. So my round trip to the city, which used to take 25 minutes, now takes four to six hours. I can hardly bring myself to speak to the soldiers when they approach my car window. 
 They might ask you where are you from, where are you going, what you do, and after they take a look at your ID, they let you go. That is it. Ninety percent of the time your ID is not checked against any list of wanted people, your car is not searched, and in many cases they don't even ask the stupid questions. Do you understand how infuriating that is? It shows that roadblocks and checkpoints are not intended as a security measure at all. They are just punishment and humiliation of a whole population. 
 Nowadays the best option is to leave your car somewhere before the checkpoint and to walk across. Then the only risk you take is being subjected to tear gas and stun grenades. It usually happens like this: Hundreds of people are crossing - workers, students, old people, children. Suddenly something will trigger an Israeli guard - you don't know what, you can't see - and the air fills with gas. It is not a pretty sight, women running, covering their infants' faces. This is a daily event here. It happened to my brother-in-law last week, and we had to take him to the hospital. He'll be all right. 
 The road from Ramallah to Bir Zeit, home of Palestine's most respected university, can't be driven at all: It is permanently barricaded by concrete blocks and earthworks and guarded by an Israeli APC. So students and others who need to get back and forth do so in stages. They drive or ride out to the barricades and get out of their cars. Then they walk about a kilometer, to the other side. Then they get another ride. 
 The road to Nablus is passable by car, but Palestinians aren't permitted to take it, whether driving or on foot. At this checkpoint, the soldiers don't just block your passage, they keep you waiting for several hours - standing in the sun, and sometimes, if you are a man, you have to keep your hands on top of your head - before they turn you back. They don't want you to try to pass again, and most of us do not. 
 For the past six months I have worked in Salfeet, about 40 kilometers from my home. To reach my workplace I have to cross at least three Israeli Army checkpoints. How the trip goes is largely dependent on the soldiers' moods.
 Sometimes one lets me through only for the next to deny me access. But I usually get to work - after all, I get special treatment because USAID gave me an ID card. That's not true for other Palestinians who dare to travel between cities. 
 And these are not criminals. They are just the thousands of Palestinians who were born here, lived here all their lives and are just trying to lead normal lives - going to work in the morning and coming home in the afternoon, going to the best hospital or the most experienced doctor for treatment, distributing goods or shipping materials from one town to another to make a living. 
 Apart from the hardships and humiliations, there is actual fear. Dozens of Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed or injured as a result of the Israeli Army's &quot;surgical&quot; operations against suspected terrorists. 
 In Nablus two children were killed when Israeli helicopters targeted the offices of a newspaper in the center of the city. Israel said that the people inside were Hamas leaders planning a terror attack. The two dead children are, according to Israel, acceptable collateral damage. In Gaza, a 4-month-old infant was killed when an Israeli tank shelled a residential neighborhood. Also in Gaza, three Bedouin women were killed when their tent was shelled by an Israeli tank. In Beit Sahour, two Palestinian women were killed when Israeli helicopters assassinated a local leader of Fatah. 
 All of this happens, and much of the world remains silent. Western media in general and American media in particular have even helped Israel to cover up all its crimes against Palestinians. In the eyes of CNN, all Palestinians killed are terrorists, or terrorists to be, or, of course, acceptable collateral damage. Israel is only practicing legitimate self-defense. It is as if the whole thing is happening in a vacuum, stripped of any historical reference, as if we were soccer hooligans instead of real people, with real lives that are being relentlessly destroyed. It is as if all reporters have forgotten the basic issue: Israel is an occupying power and the Palestinians are a people under occupation. 
 The reason behind this world silence and one-sided media coverage is of course suicide bombers - a phenomenon that worries me as a Palestinian. This level of desperation among my people frightens me. I cannot even start to think of the impact it will have not only on innocent Israelis but also on our own society when young people actually believe that death is a better option than the lives they are leading. 
 What scares me more is that in the last few months - as the crackdown has worsened, and as I drive those 40 kilometers every day to Salfeet - I am beginning to understand where this desperation comes from. I see it in the eyes of young men stopped at checkpoints and waiting in the sun for hours. I see it in the eyes of old men and women walking for 2 kilometers on rough roads to bypass a checkpoint to get to work on time. And I felt the desperation myself when my daughter made that innocent remark about the road. Into what kind of world are we bringing our children? What ways are left for Palestinians to change the world we live in? Or will we all need to kill ourselves before the world understands the justice of a people's cry for freedom? 
 
 <i>Muhanned Tull works for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization, as manager of a USAID-funded rural-development program in the West Bank. He contributed this comment to The Washington Post. </i>

TITLE: good night to stepashka on ort
AUTHOR: by Kevin O'Flynn

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A television tradition disappeared this summer as the children's program &quot;Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi&quot; or &quot;Goodnight, Little Ones&quot; finally succumbed to the modern world and was shunted off ORT to Kultura.
 Since it was launched in 1964, the program has been the nighttime signature for generations of young children as it sings them off to bed at 8:45 p.m., six nights a week. Well-loved characters like the mischievous piglet Khryusha and the goody-goody bunny Stepashka have charmed millions of children but done little in recent years for ORT's bank balance.
 Because commercials are not permitted to be shown during children's programs, ORT had whittled down the program to only eight minutes with streams of advertisements on either side of it. This wasn't enough, though, to keep the program alive.
 So &quot;Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi&quot; has been moved from prime-time ORT to Kul tura, another state-controlled channel.
 &quot;It's not only a television program, but a cultural event,&quot; said Igor Burenkov, an ORT spokesperson. &quot;So as to preserve the program it was decided to put it on Kultura where there are no advertisements at all.&quot;
 Worries have been expressed, though, that many children will miss out because Kultura does not transmit to the whole country. ORT says that in places where coverage is bad or nonexistent, the show will be broadcast on local state channels.
 Burenkov acknowledges that with debts of $200 million, the channel can find better things for the prime-time spot. But he defended the move, saying that ORT was helping to preserve the program.
 Media and the public remain unconvinced that this is the case.
 &quot;For 36 years Khryusha, Stepashka and their numerous friends have lived on the first button [of the television],&quot; mourned Novyie Izvestia, calling the move a purely commercial decision that would deprive many children of the program.
 &quot;Bastards,&quot; exclaimed a student who watched the program as a child upon hearing the news.
 Program-makers lamented the move to Kultura because of the stations' poor signal but welcomed the decision, saying it would allow them to expand the program to 12 minutes.
 With such a short time available, &quot;Spokoinoi Nochi &quot; usually had to cut the cartoons they showed. At last, said producer Lyudmila Zaitseva, they would be able to show cartoons with understandable beginnings and endings.
 Zaitseva refused to comment on why the program had been ditched by ORT.
 In an age of Teletubbies and Pokemon, &quot;Spokoinoi Nochi&quot; looks its 37 years. Sets are rather rickety, and the puppets look primitive compared to those on &quot;Ulitsa Sezam,&quot; the Russian version of &quot;Sesame Street.&quot; ORT officials say they have continually tried to get the producers to modernize the show.
 Zaitseva said there would be a new puppet and new design when the program airs new episodes this fall.
 Despite its signs of age, the program is undoubtedly very popular, especially with parents who see it as more wholesome entertainment than Pokemon or Teletubbies. The fondness people feel for it can be seen in the success of &quot;Tushite Svet,&quot; or &quot;Turn Out the Lights,&quot; a satirical program on TV6 with grown-up versions of Stepashka and Khryusha called Stepan Kapusta and Khryun Morzhov.
 ORT said that it has fielded a number of phone calls about its decision to scrap the show, but that only half had been against the move.
 &quot;We expected more aggressive [calls],&quot; Burenkov said.
 One of the few changes the program has seen over the years is its time slot. Bedtime has crept up from about 8 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Other changes were more difficult to make. The show still gets letters of complaint over modifications made to the opening titles a number of years ago, director Valentina Prasolova told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
 &quot;Spokoinoi Nochi&quot; has only been off the screens a few times before. The program was once yanked off the screens in the 1960s for fear of insulting Brezhnev. The cartoon planned for the evening, entitled &quot;The Frog Traveler,&quot; suddenly seemed inappropriate after news came through that Brezhnev was set to go traveling around the Soviet Union. The program was swiftly swapped for another, even before the wisecracking Stepashka could open his mouth, Noviye Izvestia reported.
 When a lack of financing threatened to end the show in 1991, a special farewell program was shown in which Khryusha and friends said good-bye. A public outcry did the trick and the program was reinstated.
 In recent years, the staff on the show has worked without pay for months or filmed in their own apartments because the budget was not large enough to cover studio rent.

TITLE: chernov's choice
TEXT: &quot;The Father of Russian Punk,&quot; the late <strong>Andrei Panov, </strong>will be remembered with a memorial concert at the Friday club on Friday.
 Better known as Svinya or Svin (Swine), he was one of the first punk fans in the city even before he heard the music. According to one interview, he fell in love with punk rock after reading a article criticizing the Sex Pistols in a Soviet newspaper. His band, Automatic Satisfiers (an obvious reference to the Pistols), was a sort of underground club for dozens of local musicians, including Kino's late frontman, Viktor Tsoi, and Tequilajazzz's Yevgeny Fyodorov.
 Panov died of an abdominal disorder at the age of 38 on Aug. 20, 1998.
 <strong>Akyns, </strong>folk singers and musicians from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, will compete at improvisation at an event called &quot;What I See Is What I Sing,&quot; which will take place at the Russian Ethnographical Museum at 1 p.m. on Saturday. In the evening, these musicians, who work in the ancient Central-Asian tradition, will appear at the JFC Jazz Club where they will be joined by contemporary improvisers, including arguably the city's best-known New Music performer, trumpeter Slava Guyvoronsky. Incidentally, JFC will be arranging at least one concert a month as part of its new world-music program starting in September.
 Akyns' Mongolian counterparts failed to arrive due to plane-ticket problems. They will play at a separate event on Sept. 14.
 <strong>OMON, </strong>whose raids on TaMtAm and Griboyedov in mid-1990s are still remembered with awe, made a comeback on the local club scene last week.
 The quite innocent, student-oriented club Moloko was raided by police armed with assault rifles on Saturday. Nothing unlawful was found, but the police were reported to have behaved rudely and to have detained one girl who had the misfortune of possessing a used cartridge case as a kind of talisman.
 New Western tours were made public this week. <strong>Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra </strong>return on the strength of thier success in Moscow earlier this year and will also play St. Petersburg this time. The band, which is the famed film director's musical hobby, will play its Gypsy-tinged Balkan folk/punk in Moscow on Oct. 2 and at St. Petersburg's Oktyabrsky Concert Hall on Oct. 4.
 <strong>The Residents </strong>on Sept. 15 is a purely Moscow affair, although quite a few locals are expected to take a train to the capital, given the cult status of the U.S. band in Russia (see the interview on Page iv). The same is more or less true for <strong>Coil </strong>which will play in Moscow on Sept. 26.
 More local concerts by foreign stars will be given by <strong>Tom Jones </strong>on Sept. 13, <strong>Depeche Mode </strong>at the SKK Complex on Sept. 18, and <strong>Robert Plant </strong>with two shows at the Oktyabrsky on Sept. 25 and 26.
 <strong>Yes, </strong>the 1970s U.K. prog-rock band has reappeared to play a couple of shows in Russia with a symphony orchestra as part of their YesSymphonic Tour, to promote the eponymous EP. The re-formed band includes members from the classic lineup: Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White. Yes will play Moscow's Kremlin Palace on Oct. 31 and St. Petersburg's Oktyabrsky Concert Hall on Nov. 2.
 <i>- by Sergey Chernov </i>

TITLE: residents play one-off show
TEXT: The Residents, the revolutionary San Francisco group that turns 30 next year, will come to Moscow for their first-ever Russian concert as part of their Icky Flix Tour.
 Promoting the group's new DVD, the tour features The Residents playing live, roughly in sync with the video.
 From the very beginning, The Residents, who describe themselves as &quot;the World's Most Famous Unknown Band,&quot; have remained strictly anonymous, appearing in public only in disguise, the most famous being their &quot;tuxedoed eyeballs.&quot;
 The only thing known about the members of the band is that there are - probably - four of them.
 While The Residents are known to have &quot;no interest in explaining anything to anyone,&quot; there is the mysterious Cryptic Corporation, which manages the band and speaks on its behalf And - what a coincidence - it also includes four men.
 Cryptic Corp.'s Hardy Fox revealed all to <strong>Sergey Chernov </strong>in an e-mail interview Sunday.
 
 q:The Residents' current tour is to promote the new release, &quot;Icky Flix,&quot; which is a DVD. DVD does not seem to be the usual format for a music group. What is attractive about it? What possibilities does it offer?
 a:The Residents have always worked in visual media. Their first love was, and in many ways still is, film. Their first project as a group was to make a film called &quot;Vileness Fats.&quot; Many of their videos are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
 Ten years ago, many of these videos were gathered together for a laser disc, &quot;Twenty Twisted Questions.&quot; It was released in conjunction with the group's 20th anniversary. When financial backers requested that the laser disc be updated for a 30th-anniversary DVD, the group hated just to collect their videos again for release. They felt that the DVD offered more possibilities. In addition to containing room for 10 more years of video work, the group wanted to explore the possibilities of a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround system. For the old video, this was impossible, so they wrote new arrangements for every song on the project and recorded them in surround sound.
 Yes, I guess it does seem strange that a visually oriented group like The Residents would also have an interest in music. But I guess that is just one of the ways The Residents are different from most other directors.
 q:What art movements were important for the band's vision? Dada? Surrealism? 
 a:They have never commented about such things, but they have always loved Fellini. I would guess he is in the surreal camp. 
 q:The anonymity of the group's members and the absence of information about their lives - is that exactly the same as it was in 1972, or has the group ever thought about changing it?
 a:It was a part of the original manifesto that the group would always be the creator of the art, not the individuals. They believe that even if an individual does something alone, the input and influence of the other members is too strong for them not to be included as part of it. They believe that the media has the responsibility of destroying groups as part of the natural process, like organic decay, and the way it is done is by the media reducing a group to its individual elements, sort of a separate-and-destroy mission. The Residents like the idea of The Beatles, and see death in the likes of John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
 q:What is the &quot;theory of obscurity&quot;? 
 a:The theory of obscurity applied to only one album, &quot;Not Available,&quot; which was recorded in about 1974 or 1975. I think they lost interest in that particular theory at that point. For the people unfamiliar with this theory, it is based on the concept that working on art that you know will be seen causes the artist to alter what he creates. The only escape is to create art that is not intended for consumption. Like I said, they did that once, and declared that it was really impossible to maintain that state of mind.
 q:New technologies tend to become out-of-date very quickly. Doesn't this discourage The Residents from experimenting with new things? 
 a:Obviously, the fact that technology is constantly changing is part of its attraction. It's alive.
 q:The world has changed drastically since you started almost 30 years ago. How did the band's attitudes and approaches change over the years? 
 a:Every project starts as an idea, and every idea comes from a different place. So there is a sense of the constant in the manner of conceiving, but an intent in avoiding the linear thinking that plagues our culture. The group is always changing in order to stay the same.
 q:Which side are The Residents on in the conflict between recording corporations and such systems as Napster? Should a free exchange of MP3 files exist? 
 a:The Residents don't have the slightest idea what Napster is. Though I know that, having grown up in a capitalist culture, they believe that they must sell art to support their projects.
 q:There are at least 12 pirated CDs by The Residents available in Russia, but it's the only way to buy the band's music in this country. What is your position? 
 a:You want my position, or The Residents' position? My position is that bootleggers should make an effort to support the group with some kind of financial assistance rather than using all the income for themselves.
 q:The Residents' references to swastikas, the Third Reich and Hitler - was this the subject of misinterpretation? Is the band political?
 a:I think you need to put that in context. People who don't know the group's work may think they have some Germanic political mission, when in reality you are speaking of artwork for one specific album, &quot;The Third Reich'n'Roll&quot; from 1975.
 I'm not sure what your question is. I guess I don't know of any misinterpretation. It is obviously about youth's unquestioning loyalty to rock music, isn't it? I think it is worth noting that the swastika is destroyed by two steaks and is not triumphant in its quest to control the mind of kids with rock and roll. At least in that respect the world reality does not agree with that drawn conclusion. Kids still think MTV is cool, can you believe that?
 q:The band's debut album, &quot;Meet The Residents,&quot; contained a few references to The Beatles. Was this relevant in 1973, a few years after The Beatles had split? What was the intention? 
 a:You mean the cover art? I can't think of any other reference. For those who don't know the cover, it is a recreation of the original Beatles first album cover, only it has been &quot;vandalized.&quot; I think the point of the cover was to say that the era of The Beatles is over. A good idea in 1973 when it was designed, but obviously not true. Kids still think The Beatles are cool, can you believe that?
 q:But there are musical references. For example, the piano intro of the song &quot;Spotted Pinto Bean&quot; on the first album refers to &quot;Let It Be&quot; (maybe a little less obviously than the &quot;Hey Jude&quot; quote on &quot;The Third Reich 'n' Roll,&quot; but nevertheless...)?
 a:I am not aware of any intentional reference to The Beatles other than the cover. The piano intro of &quot;Spotted&quot; is not intended to reference the group, though you can certainly say that you see it that way.
 The &quot;Hey Jude&quot; on the &quot;Third Reich&quot; doesn't count, since the entire album is [made up of] references to someone and is not specifically aimed at The Beatles. They <i>do </i>have references to The Beatles at other times, though. &quot;The Beatles play The Residents and The Residents play The Beatles,&quot; or &quot;The King & Eye,&quot; for instance.
 
 q:The Residents are known for their criticism and disintegration of current U.S. pop culture. Pop culture tends to change quickly, so doesn't it make the band's work less relevant as time passes? What's good and bad about pop music?
 a:I wish you would provide some examples. At worst, I would say The Residents have a love/hate relationship with American culture. They think it is the greatest culture on earth at the moment. Actually, I don't think your question accurately represents The Residents' work, so I can't think of any way to answer it. Nothing is good or bad about any music or other art. Music and art take their values from the human brain and the unique structures contained therein.
 
 q:Do you see The Residents as forefathers of punk (it looks like the band influenced many punk and new-wave acts)? What do you think about punk? Was it positive?
 a:&quot;Forefathers of punk.&quot; Now there is a dubious honor. Destruction is a part of construction ... and punk attempted to take some of the layers of paint off the wood so we could see the wood again. But no one seemed interested in the wood once it got stripped, so it just got painted again. So it goes.
 q:Are you fully satisfied with The Residents' position as &quot;a seminal underground band&quot; (Wired)? 
 a:What the hell does that mean??? Sounds like some color of paint to put on The Residents. Whatever made Wired Magazine think The Residents were a band anyway? &quot;Band&quot; is so '70s.
 
 <i>Check out The Residents' official Web site at www.residents.com.
 The Residents in concert at 16 Tons, Moscow, 6 Presnensky Val, Tel. 253-0530 at 11 p.m. on Sept. 8. Tickets cost 500 rubles and can be reserved by calling the club. </i>

TITLE: rock 'n' roll spirit revived at front
AUTHOR: by Sergey Chernov

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The new rock club Front - located in a neglected area off Ligovsky Prospect - may not be very well-known, but it still rocks. Last Friday, when local band Bombers played its latter-day, heavy variety of surf for its leather-clad fans, you could really feel that true rock-and-roll spirit, a rarity in the generally sated and lazy St. Petersburg club scene.
 Launched on April 30, Front was built and is now co-owned and co-managed by Sergei Cowboy, Ilya Khvost and Alexei Sapozhnikov. Cowboy used to play blues with the band Fine Street, while Khvost was involved in Money Honey, the city's first and still only rockabilly club, in its initial period in 1993, and later worked as a barman at the now-defunct art/rock club Art Clinic. Sapozhnikov studied with Khvost at the Refrigeration Institute and is very skilled at design.
 The idea to launch an underground - both metaphorically and literally - music club in a Cold-War bomb shelter goes back to 1993, when the city's premier techno club Tunnel opened in a similar venue on the Petrograd Side. After Tunnel folded, Griboyedov - which is run by the new-wave, ska-tinged band Dva Samaliota - opened in a bunker near Ligovsky Prospect in 1996.
 Griboyedov is still with us, splitting its nights between live acts and DJs, but Front is intended exclusively for live music. The stand-out acts are the ones that rehearse at the venue during the daytime, including Sergei Shnurov and various Leningrad-related acts. Sveta Kolibaba, who played accordion with Shnurov's Tri Debila and now plays with her &quot;alternative pop&quot; band, Chernontsy, and Bombers also rehearse and often perform at Front.
 They also help the club if there is a sudden cancellation. For instance, when the Dutch band Lushus failed to show last Friday, it was ably replaced by Bombers, who delivered a full-length, two-set performance that got the fans slam-dancing.
 Front was built by the trio of co-owners in 18 months. Previously, the bunker was unused. &quot;There was water waist high and about 10 tons of garbage,&quot; says Khvost.
 The club's original industrial designs include stools made of discs and springs, and ashtrays that rotate on the tables on a complex mechanism of chains, gear wheels and ball-bearings. The discarded metal parts came from a nearby scrap heap.
 &quot;We had been experimenting before we opened. We would do something, then change it completely,&quot; says Khvost. 
 &quot;There were months when we had no money, so we just sat and thought about what to do. If we had done it quickly, we would probably have done what other clubs do. But we had time to think.&quot;
 The name stems from the initial concept of a military-style club with camouflage-colored walls, which was later discarded. &quot;[Sapozhnikov ] said: 'Look around, it's the 21st century. What military style are you talking about? It's pass&eacute;,'&quot; says Khvost.
 Because of the way the interior is laid out, Front can hold up to 100 people and looks more spacious than Griboyedov, although the bunkers are identical.
 The bunker is close to a local police station and is guarded by a policeman who stands outside. &quot;They understand us, and we have a completely friendly relationship,&quot; says Sapozhnikov.
 Though the thick walls of the bunker provide ideal sound isolation, the managers have to ask some excited fans not to make too much noise when leaving the place, as it is in a residential area.
 Speaking about the local club scene, Khvost says there are many concert venues, but not many real clubs. &quot;It's easy to check. When there's no band playing and still a lot of people inside, it's a club,&quot; he says.
 Front's entrance fee is not high - 50 rubles - and is charged only when a band is playing, usually on Fridays and Saturdays. Most of the time, patrons are welcome for free. 
 &quot;Though some say you should separate friendship and business, we are not the sort of people to take money from friends,&quot; says Khvost. &quot;We only earn enough to survive, but the main thing is that we see pleasant faces.&quot;
 &quot;Mostly it's a club for friends and friends' friends. There's only a handful of people whom we don't know. Ninety percent are old friends. There are not many people, but they are good people, and that's why we don't advertise the place much.&quot;
 
 <i>Front is open nightly from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. 31 Ul. Chernyakhovskogo. M: Ligovsky Prospect, 164-5250. </i>

TITLE: wwii tragedy inspires canadian ballet
AUTHOR: by Galina Stolyarova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The dramatic story of the sinking of a merchant convoy delivering supplies to the north of Russia during World War II has inspired a Canadian choreographer to produce a ballet. The premiere of Bill Coleman's &quot;Convoy PQ-17&quot; will see the stage on Aug. 31 at the Alexandrinsky Theater.
 Of the 34 ships in the convoy, only 11 were able to reach Russia and deliver valuable military supplies essential to the Soviet Army in 1942. One hundred and fifty-three sailors drowned or otherwise died during the voyage, in what was one of the biggest naval disasters of World War II. Yet it was only in 1999 that the Canadian merchant fleet marines in the convoy were granted the status of World War II veterans. This recognition came too late for many of them - not more than 15 percent of the survivors were still alive at that time.
 For the choreographer, this story is particularly meaningful, and it wasn't only from books and articles that he learned about the fate of the heroic convoy. His father, John Coleman, a former merchant marine, was among those who survived the dramatic expedition.
 According to the representatives of the St. Petersburg-based Vizit Foundation for the Development of Music, which was among the organizers of the project, John Coleman will attend the Aug. 31 performance.
 In memory of the 1942 events, Bill Coleman, in collaboration with composer Christopher Butterfield, produced a theatrical composition that they sometimes describe as the &quot;Requiem to the Convoy Sent to Hell&quot;.
 Though the ballet master is a prominent figure in the West, to most St. Petersburgers Bill Coleman is not a familiar name.
 Coleman, winner of the Best Contemporary Choreography Award at the prestigious annual theatrical festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, has frequently been referred to as &quot;surprising, unusual, zany and uproarious.&quot; He has performed with numerous companies, including the Dublin City and Wiesbaden Ballets and Montreal's Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault.
 His choreographic works have also enjoyed international recognition, being performed for various companies in New York, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bologna. Coleman's &quot;Baryshnikov: The Other Story&quot; received the Jerome Foundation's First Light Award in 1988.
 Joining Coleman on stage will be Laurence Lemieux, with whom he often performs in Canada. Lemieux, the 1998 winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Dance Performance, is also a well-known choreographer, having created works for the Toronto Dance Theater and Toronto's Dancemakers.
 The Theater Choir and the Congress Orchestra. will be representing Russian <br> musicians.
 Christopher Butterfield's works have been performed throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. During the 1970s, the composer was interested in experimenting with sound poetry and performance art, traveling across the Canada and the United States and giving workshops in the graduate visual arts department at Concordia University in Montreal. He was one of the co-founders of the avant-garde rock band Klo in Toronto. In 1980, under the name Isobel Foote, he showed an installation entitled Garbage at the A.K.A. Gallery in Toronto, and in 1981 received a Canada Council grant in order to work on &quot;My World as I Remember It,&quot; a series of performance pieces.
 This fall, &quot;Convoy PQ-17&quot; will also be performed in Canada with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Peterborough New Dance.
 
 <i>For ticket information, please call the Alexandrinsky Theater at 110-4103. </i>

TITLE: koreans oust spaniards
AUTHOR: by Simon Patterson

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Ever since I first laid eyes on the restaurant Barcelona on Ligovsky Prospect, I've been planning to pay a visit. It looked a reasonable sort of place, perhaps just as good, if not better, than the city's other two Spanish restaurants, El Toro on Ulitsa Marata and Torres on Nevsky: at least the owners had shown some imagination in not naming their establishment after a bull. Imagine my shock, then, when I found that it had vanished, leaving a Korean cafe in its wake.
 Presumably, this transformation did not happen overnight, but I live in the area and completely failed to notice it. The sign &quot;Barcelona&quot; is still hanging on the street, but otherwise the Cafe Koreana, as it is called, has nothing to betray its former incarnation.
 The Koreana looked inviting, and we decided to give it a try. The decor is simple and tasteful, with two large airy rooms with wooden floors and tables. Everything about the interior seemed to promise good food, though we were worried that the prices might be a little steep.
 We were soon reassured after reading the prices on menu, which are all in rubles, rather than in conditional units. The prices were far more reasonable than we could possibly have expected, and certainly put the city's other Korean restaurants to shame.
 We began with the Tontentige fish soup (240 rubles), which turned out to be almost a meal for two in itself. It came with six small salads of various spicy vegetables, such as eggplant and cabbage, and rice. The soup came in a large tureen and was, as we had requested, spicy. Unlike other restaurants, where the spice factor is often dulled, presumably a concession to local tastebuds, the Koreana makes no such compromises, and we soon found ourselves gasping for air and taking frantic gulps of our Baltika beer (25 rubles for a 0.4-liter glass). The soup was still delicious, however, with prawns, crab meat and vermicelli in abundance.
 We felt that we had eaten our fill, but we had already ordered two mains, the chicken wings (98 rubles) and the pork and vegetables (112 rubles) that our waitress had recommended. The chicken wings were intriguing, bearing little resemblance to wings at all, but evidently the meat had been pared off the bone and fried in batter, and the result was delectable. These were served with mayonnaise and chili sauce, but we found we had little use for the latter.
 The pork and vegetables were also excellent, though we had also requested that they be spicy, which we already realized was a big mistake. Fortunately, it did not quite reach the levels of the soup, and the mixture of spices used was quite subtle, while the meat and peppers were tender and delicious.
 We sipped on our beers for a while before asking for the bill, but a very pleasant surprise was in store for us - the grand total came to a miniscule 575 rubles, or less than $20 for an enormous, and thoroughly delicious, meal. We made sure to leave our waitress a generous tip, as she was extremely helpful in guiding us through the complicated menu, advising us against the octopus soup, and able to make recommendations that would best suit our tastes. I don't know if anyone mourned the passing of Barcelona, but I doubt that it was as good as Koreana, which is simply one of the best new restaurants the city has seen in a long time. Just be sure to hurry there before word gets around and they raise the prices.
 
 <i>Cafe Koreana, 25 Ligovsky Prospect, 277-0213. Large dinner for two with beer, 575 rubles ($20). Open daily, 11 a.m. to the last customer. Credit cards accepted. </i>

TITLE: yachts make come-back
AUTHOR: By Claire Bigg

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Petrovsky and Krestovsky islands have been experiencing a renewal in the past few years as the city's yacht-building industry is taking off, and yachting is becoming an increasingly popular pasttime among Russia's and St. Petersburg's wealthy.
 &quot;St. Petersburg used to have an important ship- and yacht-building industry. There were three important shipyards, but they began deteriorating after 1991. When we established ourselves on Petrovsky Island's shipyards three years ago, the site was a huge rubbish dump,&quot; said Alexander Morozov, director of the yacht-building company Mortrans Craft.
 Mortrans Craft was founded in 1998 as a branch of Mortrans, a Russian transportation company established in St. Petersburg since 1991. It currently employs 15 people and is situated a few steps away from St. Petersburg's Central Yacht Club on the tip of Petrovsky Island.
 Today, Morozov seems confident about the future of St. Petersburg's shipyards. &quot;I think the yacht-building industry is going to experience important growth in St. Petersburg, thanks to the city's general economic development and also to its favorable location on the Gulf of Finland,&quot; Morozov said.
 Morozov is planning to open a non-commercial yachting association on Mortrans Crafts' second floor.
 Petrovsky Island is not the only place on the Gulf of Finland to witness a growing interest in yachting and sailing. There are two more yacht clubs on Krestovsky Island, which is rapidly becoming an elite area with its new luxury residential complexes and sports clubs.
 Although St. Petersburg seems to be following a national trend in the revival of yacht-building, Morozov is realistic about the financial difficulties linked to the industry.
 &quot;It is a risky business, where you should not expect important benefits during the first few years. As a rule, yacht-building companies require a long of time to develop and become profitable,&quot; he said.
 According to Morozov, Mortrans Craft will only start seeing substantial profits in five years. For the present, the company's production is limited to small and medium-sized boats, but Morozov expects his company to be able to build larger boats in the coming years. 
 &quot;This is the way all yacht-building companies evolve. The size of the boats increases as the company grows,&quot; he said.
 Mortrans Craft's uniqueness - and one of the reasons for its success - is that it produces only custom yachts and boats. Every boat that comes out of its workshops is a unique, made-to-measure boat answering to the client's tastes.
 &quot;We are the only company in St. Petersburg offering a complete range of services, from the design of the yacht down to the smallest details in decoration,&quot; said Morozov. &quot;We can even deliver the yacht anywhere in Russia and abroad. We have been asked to transport yachts to Greece, Cyprus and Monaco, for instance. Not all our yachts end up abroad, though. Some stay in Russia, even in St. Petersburg,&quot; 
 Considering that Mortrans Craft's average production time for a yacht is about four months, the company accepts only a few orders a year. Customers are both Russians and foreigners, although Morozov says that he tends to work increasingly with foreigners, finding them generally more reliable.
 With an average price of $250,000 for a 15-meter yacht, Mortrans Craft is clearly on the expensive side, which Mo ro zov explains by the quality of the materials and the fact that the company operates on the basis of individual orders.
 &quot;Of course you can buy much cheaper boats in St. Petersburg, for example Bayliners, with prices starting at $70,000,&quot; said Morozov. &quot;But they are mass-produced plastic boats, the kind that young Americans like buying when they come out of university and start working. We work on a totally different level. Comparing our yachts to Bayliners would be like comparing a palace to a brick house.&quot;
 Morozov says that he imports his hulls and the technical equipment, which, according to him, are of much higher quality than those manufactured in Russia. Mortrans Craft usually fits its yachts with hulls made of aluminum, considered to be the most reliable - but also the most expensive - material. Precious woods like mahogany and teak are used for the decks and interiors.
 Mortrans Craft's prices may be considerably higher than average for the Russian market, but Morozov says that they are still far below European prices for custom yachts.
 &quot;Building a yacht in St. Petersburg is much cheaper because labor, which represents 40 percent of a custom yacht's price, is cheaper here. You can break down the selling price of a yacht into four main expenses: 20 percent for the hull, 20 percent for the equipment, 20 percent for the motors, and the rest is labor. In Europe you would pay twice as much for a custom yacht,&quot; he said.
 Morozov admits, however, that Russian-made yachts still lag behind Europe in terms of quality, owing to Russia's relatively young yacht-building industry.
 &quot;Although some of the people we employ have been working in the yacht-building industry for more than ten years, our company is only beginning and still has a long way to go to equal Western yacht-builders,&quot; Morozov said.

TITLE: new apartments fit for a tsar
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalyev

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: With its spectacular vistas and noble heritage, St. Petersburg is an ideal place for the comfortably off to set up house and home in the manner to which they are - or would like to become - accustomed. Whatever you are looking for, you can find it these days.
 Yelena Kislitsina, director of the DZT real-estate company, says that her company sold a downtown apartment earlier this year for $4,000 per square meter. But she declined to say where it was located, how big it was or who the happy new homeowner is. &quot;The clients would not be happy if this information was spread around, since it would be very easy to find this place,&quot; she said.
 Such reticence is the rule among those who can afford the very best the city has to offer. 
 While earlier the well-heeled tended to buy up huge communal apartments and resettle their occupants in outlying districts, now the clear tendency favors the construction of entirely new buildings, planned from the outset as residences for the elite.
 Peterburgsky Alyans completed construction this spring of an elite building on Italyanskaya Ulitsa, boldly advertising it as &quot;the most expensive apartments in the city.&quot; Nonetheless, the building's 18 apartments are almost all sold, with most of the clients being bankers, managers of major retail companies and foreign businesspeople. The average cost of living in this luxurious building is $3,000 per meter. The 200-meter penthouse is a bargain at just $400,000.
 Another recently completed elite building is the so-called House on the Embankment, near the Tavrichesky Garden. Two- to four-bedroom apartments in this luxurious complex average about $300,000. Like most elite buildings, this one boasts a spectacular granite-and-marble foyer, a private garden, complete indoor and outdoor security, a gym, a tanning salon, a bar, a beauty salon and a sauna. Naturally, there is also a guarded and heated underground parking garage.
 According to a recent survey of the local market conducted by RBI Real Estate, there are about 100,000 square meters of elite, AA-rated apartments currently for sale in 37 separate buildings. 
 Generally, experts consider any apartment selling for more than $1,500 per meter to be &quot;elite.&quot; That price is more than five times the city average for residential real estate. &quot;Even at $1,500, that's barely enough to provide air-conditioning and decent elevators,&quot; said Tatiana Protasova, a representative of Peterburgsky Alyans.
 &quot;There are enough elite apartments to satisfy current demand,&quot; Kis lit sina said.
 The golden rule of real estate - location, location, location - certainly holds true here. Elite buildings tend to be clustered within a 10-minute drive of Nevsky Prospekt. The Petrograd Side, with its relatively green surroundings and distinctive art-nouveau architecture is becoming increasingly popular with the local business elite. 
 Beyond location, elite apartments must come with the full range of services including Internet access, satellite television, air-conditioning, filtered drinking water, multiple phone lines, adjustable thermostats. Working fireplaces are also considered de rigeur. Ceilings must be no less than three meters high. Guarded parking is essential.
 Elite apartments are generally sold unfinished, as clients prefer to engage their own interior designers. Most clients pay as much or more for interior design as they do for their apartments. 
 For apartments that come with appliances, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers are mandatory, even if clients are unlikely to actually use them. 
 &quot;Only 2 percent of our clients use [dishwashers],&quot; said Yury Sokolov, director of the real-estate company Lyubimy Gorod. &quot;They usually wash the dishes in the normal way or only use their kitchens to microwave frozen food.&quot;
 Another important consideration is, of course, just who the neighbors will be. Elite, after all, isn't elite if just anyone is allowed. Agents say that their clients are looking for &quot;social homogeneity.&quot;
 Agents at RBI noted that businesspeople prefer not to rub elbows with artists. And vice versa. Businesspeople engaged in &quot;transparent business&quot; make efforts to avoid becoming neighbors with &quot;bandits.&quot;
 &quot;Of course one of the first questions clients ask is, 'who are the neighbors?' Nobody wants to live with criminals,&quot; Protasova said.
 &quot;As for artists, this is understandable because they rehearse at night and make noise, which wouldn't be good for a banker who has to start working early,&quot; she said.
 For those who are seeking the lap of luxury, but who aren't quite ready to settle down in St. Petersburg, renting is always an option. Elite apartments can be had for as little as $150 per day.
 One agent who asked that we not mention his name or the name of the company he works for, said that there are two particular apartments located somewhere in the city that rent for $20,000 per month. 
 These apartments, about 450 square meters each, come equipped with features like bulletproof glass, several exits leading into various yards and streets, complete indoor and outdoor security and top-of-the-line fixtures. One of them reportedly has kitchen cabinetry that cost $40,000.

TITLE: town houses: the latest fad
AUTHOR: by Vladimir Kovalyev

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Not everyone, even in Russia, likes to live in an apartment in the center of the city. Sometimes, you just have to get away from the car alarms and the crowded sidewalks. You need a place where you can put your lounge chair out on the grass and watch the dog dig in the flowerbed. You need a suburban house.
 St. Petersburg has come a long way since the time when your only choice was between living in an apartment and building a squat, red-brick castle complete with everything but the moat. Such &quot;new-Russian specials&quot; began sprouting up in the early 1990s when the first flush of capitalist gains hit the market and their owners were more concerned with keeping the riff-raff at bay than with demonstrating any sense of style, or even common sense for that matter.
 But even then, change was in the wind. St. Petersburg's first real suburban community was born in 1992, a set of elite town houses built by the American real-estate company, Dubravy. Located near the Pionerskaya metro station, the Dubravy complex consists of three-floor houses with three bedrooms, a living room and a dining room. Dubravy units come either furnished or empty, renting for from $4,000 to $7,000 per month, according the Dubravy representative Vladimir Maslov.
 Maslov said that most of his clients are managers of foreign companies operating in St. Petersburg. &quot;They rent [our] cottages for from six months to seven years,&quot; he added.
 Of course, renting is not the only option. The Northwestern Construction Corporation recently completed a development of suburban houses in Kolomyagi on the northern edge of St. Petersburg. According to company representative Anastasya Glushankova, the top-of-the-line units there goes for $450,000. She hastened to add that clients then invest as much as $600,000 more for interior design and decoration, bringing the price tag to more than $1 million.
 The three-floor cottages at Kolo myagi are around 580 square meters, each on a private plot of land, and come equipped with multiple phone lines, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, three-car garages and luxurious terraces with heated floors.
 The unfinished interior can be designed to meet the client's needs. &quot;You can put a lot of rooms in those cottages,&quot; Glushankova said. &quot;Everything depends on what the client wants.&quot;
 &quot;Some want a whole floor that is just one room. Others want the complete opposite. It would be possible to make as many as 21 rooms in that cottage,&quot; she said.
 A bit further from town, one might consider the elite cottages of Kitaiskaya Derevnya, or Chinese Village, in the beautiful suburb of Pushkin, just a stone's throw from the Catherine Palace. This development has 23 houses for rent, but most of them are occupied and vacancies are rare.
 For those who want to experience the good life only in the summer, it is possible to rent elite cottages on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in the region of Zelengorsk and Repino.
 &quot;The average price for such houses outside of town could be from $1,000 to $10,000 a month. In season, even an ordinary house near the coast costs $1,000,&quot; said Yury Sokolov, an agent with the Lubimy Gorod real estate agency.
 &quot;With security and with an area of from 600 to 800 square meters, such houses run from $3,500 to $5,000 per month. A house right on the beach costs $10,000,&quot; he said.
 The business of building elite suburban houses is booming. Construction sites for 700 units have already been zoned in Kolomyagi and Kamenka. The city's long-term development plan calls for over 40,000 units to be built in the Shuvalovo and Ozerki areas. As many as 4,000 units should be completed by 2003. Although these will not be elite buildings by any stretch of the imagination, they will go a long way toward fostering the culture of suburban living in St. Petersburg.

TITLE: jewelry for the true connoisseur
AUTHOR: by Irina Titova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Finding the most expensive jewelry in St. Petersburg is not a difficult task. Two centrally located establishments stand out, boasting gems and trinkets capable of busting any budget. If you've got more than $150,000 to drop on a watch, then St. Petersburg is the city for you.
 You might start at the Mercury salon, located in the Grand Hotel Europe. All of the most prestigious names in the world of jewelry are to be found here, including Tiffany and Co., Cianni Lazzaro, and Blancpain.
 &quot;People often pay not only for exquisite and beautiful things, but also for the brands that are known for their high quality,&quot; said Irina Tynyankova, the manager of Mercury.
 She then proceeded to show me a string of Japanese black pearls from the Japanese company Mikimoto for a cool $45,000. According to Tynyankova, Japanese black pearls are considered among the most precious in the world, and after looking at their amazing, silky soft depth, I could understand why.
 Next, Tynyankova directed my attention to a diamond ring selling for $70,000. The 4.2-carat stone, cut in the &quot;Marchioness&quot; pattern, rested in a fairly plain setting, with just two smaller, &quot;Baguette&quot; cut diamonds for companionship. The setting was intentionally understated, Tynyankova explained, in order not to distract attention from the mysterious, irridescent glimmer of the central stone.
 Tynyankova further noted that, although this stone is certainly large, it is by no means the largest that one might find decorating someone's ring finger. 
 Seeing that my head was spinning from the jewelry, Tynyankova edged me over to the watches and pointed out a Swiss Blancpain model with a $170,000 price tag.
 Although the timepiece is certainly attractive, its price is determined by its exquisite, almost diabolical mechanism.
 According to Tynyankova, it is one of the most complicated and most expensive watch mechanisms ever devised. Invented in 1801, it is fantastically precise because it compensates for the shifting force of gravity as the wearer moves his or her arm. 
 To the ignorant observer, the watch seems rather plain. Its most distinguishing feature is the back of the watch, which is glass to allow spectators to marvel at the magical mechanism inside.
 The watch also features a split chronometer, which enables one simultaneously to time two separate events. These timers have two smaller clockfaces, which are the only embellishment to the front of the watch.
 The watch itself is more or less normal size, but its elegant face is smaller than normal and set slightly off center. 
 &quot;In fact, this watch is a work of art, and that is why it is so expensive,&quot; Tynyankova said.
 Blancpain is one of the oldest and most prestigious watch brands in Switzerland, having been founded in 1735.
 Fans of fantastically expensive jewelry who still have some loose change rolling around after visiting Mercury don't have far to go for another fix. The elite Ananov salon, which used to be in the Grand Hotel Europe, has moved just across the street to 29 Nevsky Prospect
 This is another one of those stores where prices are not displayed because clients generally don't need to ask. But the staff is generally willing to help out those of us who understand a difference between $10,000 and $100,000.
 Immediately upon entering, you will be struck by the exquisite Faberge-style Easter eggs, jewel-encrusted enamel sculptures accented with precious metals.
 Ananov, which was founded by local businessman Andrei Ananov, employs its own artisans to make the creations it sells, using exclusive materials and processes. Each item is unique.
 In addition to some lovely accessories, Ananov has fabulous interior decorations, including delicate frames for photographs and sophisticated jewelry boxes, as well as the eggs. 
 My eye was caught by an Easter egg inspired by the upcoming 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. I remembered that Faberge liked to make such trifles to mark historic occasions and anniversaries within the royal family.
 The upper part of the St. Petersburg egg is capped with an imperial two-headed eagle, encrusted with garnets and emeralds. The stones are set in an intertwined lacing of gold and silver to accentuate their beauty.
 The entire egg is covered with the unique guillioche enamel, which produces exquisitely mild tints of color on the surface.
 &quot;Guillioche enamel is Ananov's personal trademark,&quot; said manager Tatyana Yanishevskaya.
 &quot;The production of items such as this egg can take as long as a year,&quot; Yanishevskaya said. &quot;Their quality is not lower than that of genuine Faberge creations. In fact, it can be even higher because we use the most modern technologies.&quot; 
 Ananov also offers a collection of individually made cuff links, earrings, necklaces and other accessories. 
 If the Easter eggs are out of your price range, the staff will tactfully show you some more modestly priced accessories, a few of which can be had for around $400.

TITLE: for fine dining, look no further
AUTHOR: by Sam Charap

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Discriminating practitioners of the art of fine dining have much to look forward to in St. Petersburg, providing they have a few thousand dollars to drop on an evening's sybaritic delight. And the beauty of the elite dining experience in St. Petersburg is that it is indeed an <i>experience, </i>amounting to much more than just good food.
 <strong>THE NOBLE EXPERIENCE
 </strong>Whenever one thinks of the finest in local dining, the Noble Nest, located on Ulitsa Dekabristov just a stone's throw from the Mariinsky Theater, leaps to mind. While every diner at this elegant eatery gets the royal treatment, &quot;for special guests, service begins at the door,&quot; said Yelena Kaltsova, the restaurant's administrator.
 Under the canopy of the entrance to the restaurant, which faces the gardens of the spectacular Yusupov Palace, an imperially-dressed member of the staff will greet you and your date with a tray of select hors d'oeuvres and drinks - champagne in the summer and vodka in the winter - as live classical music sets the mood. If that's too tame for you, the restaurant is pleased to arrange fireworks as well.
 If you are reluctant to share your special evening with just anybody, even with those who can afford to dine at the Noble Nest, a $600 fee allows you to rent out the whole place for ultimate privacy.
 Once inside, you can choose from their menu - which could be described as haute cuisine a la rus - or pick the prix fix &quot;Nobleman's Menu,&quot; a 7-course (counting the sorbet) meal including a monkfish-and-crab starter, deer pelmeni, and braised pigeon with mushrooms ($89).
 Wine at the Noble Nest is, as Kaltsova puts it, &quot;a whole ceremony unto itself.&quot; The Noble Nest has a sommelier on staff and features a very extensive, though pricey wine list. Some of the highlights include a 1985 Pauillac Chateau Lafite Rothschild Priem Grand Classe for $1,125 or a 1986 Chateau Petrus for $1,980. 
 During the meal, assuming that you have reserved the whole restaurant and that you so desire, one of the restaurant's two rooms can be cleared for dancing. The Noble Nest can arrange the musicians and have them play a tango, fox trot, waltz or whatever suits your dancing fancy, Kaltsova said.
 After the meal, you can enjoy a three-layered cake or, for really special occasions, the Noble Nest can arrange a desert that consists of ice cream presented within an ice sculpture, with colored lamps at its feet, to create the perfect atmosphere. If you are still in need of sensual stimulation after all that, you can light up a Cohiba or Romeo & Juliet Cuban cigar (both $30).
 If the Noble Nest's menu doesn't fit your needs, Kaltsova said that the restaurant can arrange just about any combination of food, music and liquor to make your evening complete. 
 &quot;We can do anything that emerges from conversations with our patrons,&quot; she said. 
 Perhaps the Noble Nest's most intriguing service, for those of you looking for a unique dining experience, is that they can arrange an Imperial evening in the adjacent Yusupov Palace ($200 per person) or in a number of other local palaces. President Vladimir Putin recently dined in the Yusupov Palace through the Noble Nest.
 <strong>A MEAL CLOAKED IN SECRECY
 </strong>For the last three years running, the Taleon Club Restaurant, located on the Moika right off Nevsky Prospect, has been crowned the best deluxe-class restaurant in St. Petersburg by an annual survey of the city's restaurants conducted by the group Torgovy Peterburg.
 And they know it.
 &quot;I can say the following. We have been recognized as the best fine-dining restaurant in St. Petersburg [and] we work in accordance with our status,&quot; said Va lentin Dalsky, the restaurant's manager.
 And that's about all Dalsky said. Not a word about any special services that the Taleon can arrange or how much they might cost. 
 &quot;We are a classic conservative club. We discuss prices only with our clients,&quot; he explained. 
 Although Taleon is an exclusive club, striving to be something like a Skull & Bones on the Neva, non-members are welcome, provided they adhere to the formal dress requirements for evening dining. Club members get preferences, but the process of becoming a member is itself a closely held secret.
 The highlight of Taleon's menu is the seafood ensemble called &quot;Blanc pain Gran de Complication&quot; ($220), named for the eponymous Swiss watch sold at Salon Bure on Nevsky Prospect, which is affiliated with Taleon. The six items that comprise the dish - salmon, lobster with black caviar, crab, sea bass with goose liver, smoked fresh-water trout, and poached sole with snails - represent the six technological achievements of the watch.
 The chefs at Taleon can arrange special dishes for VIPs, too. Dalsky said that when the Scorpions were in town, they were surprised to find that Taleon had created an original menu featuring dishes named for their hit songs.
 The wine list at Taleon is extremely impressive in its depth. It not only includes the standard selection of French vintages, but also has some Italian and Spanish choices. Some of the highlights include a 1986 Pomerol Chateau Petrus ($3,473) and a 1990 Chateau Mouton Rothschild ($2,280). They even have two French-made house vintages: a 1999 Sancerre ($105) and a 2000 Beaujolais ($58).
 For the cognac lover in you, you can order a glass of Hennessy Timeless (5-centiliter portion for just $700), which you can find in St. Petersburg only at the Taleon. Only 2,000 bottles of this stuff were produced, so you can rest assured that you're getting your money's worth.
 
 <strong>THE OLD STANDARD
 </strong>An old favorite of St. Petersburg's haute-cuisine restaurants is the Europe, located on the second floor of the Grand Hotel Europe. There has been a restaurant there since 1905.
 Some of the highlights of the Europe's menu include lobster thermidor and Kamchatka crabs (both $55) and a mushroom julienne made from Italian truffles ($200). The wine list features a 1986 Chateau Petrus ($2,700) and a 1986 Chateau Angeau ($1,500). They also have Louis XII cognac ($255 for a 4 centiliter portion).
 But according to Dimitry Zakharchenko, the manager of the Europe, some of the most innovative dishes in the restaurant's history are not on the menu. These include dishes specially made available to VIPs or those prepared according to a patron's request.
 &quot;In principle, we can organize everything,&quot; he said. &quot;Anything can be done if you ask for it.&quot;
 Zakharchenko tells of a hotel guest who brought a baby woodpecker with him to be prepared by the restaurant's chefs. And prepare they did, stuffing it with goose liver and truffles.
 For romantic occasions, you can rent the elegant upper hall of the Europe for $7,000. Zakharchenko says that the restaurant can organize a full evening, including live music, flower arrangements or anything else your heart desires. 
 What makes the Europe different from the other luxury restaurants in the city? 
 &quot;The spirit of the restaurant is different,&quot; says Zakharchenko. &quot;The walls of this restaurant give it a special character; it's a place with history . . . . Sometimes guests come here just to relax.&quot;
 
 <strong>USE YOUR FANTASY
 </strong>The bottom line in St. Petersburg's culinary scene, as in the city's politics and business spheres, is that anything is possible. Of all the amazing delicacies and romantic evenings that restaurant managers described, the most interesting were those crafted by the diners themselves. Whatever rules there are - except maybe some of the Taleon's - were made to be broken by those with enough money to spend.

TITLE: in search of expensive threads
AUTHOR: by Irina Titova

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Many people are afraid even to stop and look in the window of the city's exclusive clothing stores. This may not even be because of money, but rather because many Petersburg residents still feel impossibly removed from the world of high fashion, with labels such as Givenchy, Pierre Cardin or Versace remaining names only.
 Nevertheless, St. Petersburg has a surprisingly large choice of prestigious elite clothing stores, with women's boutiques such as Femme Etoile, Vanity, Escada, and men's clothing shops such as Babochka, Machiavelli and Hugo Boss representing top-of-the-line fashion.
 Fortunately, the service at these places is generally helpful regardless of a person's social status and whether he or she is in any position to buy the merchandise. This was the case at Machiavelli at 26 Sadovaya Ul., where we found some of the most expensive suits in the city. Machiavelli sells Italian suits,made by such world-renowned labels as Brioni, Kiton, Ermenegildo Zegna and Canali.
 'We are glad to guide everyone who enters our store,&quot; said Yulia Gers, Machiavelli's executive director.
 In fact, guidance is not the only thing one may need in such place. The inexperienced eye may not immediately appreciate why a gray Kiton suit is priced as high as $2,457. This requires a fairly sound knowledge of fashion.
 &quot;The high price of such suits is not only because of the brand. It is mostly because of the fine fabric and handiwork. Most Kiton suits are 90 percent hand made,&quot; said Gers.
 Touching the suit's fabric, an extremely thin 14-micron wool, is a luxurious experience in itself. The wool is soft. It's gentle. It's smooth. It makes you want to touch it again and again.
 What's more, the jacket's lining is made of seaweed and horsehair. The seaweed, we were told, helps keep the wearer cool, while the horsehair prevents the jacket from becoming crumpled.
 &quot;Such suits are intended for long wear, due to their classic design and quality. The owner can wear it from five to 10 years,&quot; Gers said.
 Gers explained that their staff also takes customers' measurements and can send a special order to Italy. The suit arrives in a month.
 Machiavelli also sells various other Italian accessories for men.
 For instance, they stock Franchesco Maglia silk umbrellas made on equipment that has been used for five generations. One can select from a choice of handles from bamboo ($225) to chestnut ($195) to wild goat's horn ($385). Or one could pick up a pair of shoes made of crocodile hide or ostrich skin.
 The other men's boutiques in the city ensure customers have access to a huge range of high quality expensive suits. Babochka's most expensive Brioni suit sells for $2,390. Hugo Boss's highest price is $1,500, whereas Versace's prices vary between $1,800 and $2,200.
 Women are also spoilt for choice if they are looking for an exquisite dress at an exquisite price. Femme Etoile salon offers its most expensive dress for $3,600; Vanity has one for $2,500, while Versace's most expensive dress goes for $3,700.
 The most expensive dress in the city was found in Escada boutique at 20 Bolshoi Prospect on the Petrograd Side for $4,500.
 It's a lovely bright silk lilac evening dress with shoulder-straps, embroidered with tiny pearl-colored beads.
 &quot;Embroidering dresses like this takes several dressmakers working together more than a month,&quot; said Tatyana Fedorovich, director of the store.
 The Escada Boutique receives its collections from Germany, where the company is based. The lilac dress is the creation of Brian Reni, head designer of Escada.

TITLE: finding the car to suit your needs
AUTHOR: By Andrey Musatov

PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Prepare to be disappointed. If you are looking to buy a top-of-the-line automobile, you should know that the world's most exclusive and expensive cars - such as Porsche, Ferrari, Bentley or Rolls Royce - are not sold here. You may have to settle for Jaguar, Mercedes Benz or BMW. 
 Alternatively, you could buy a specially designed vehicle such as the armored VIP Kombat, lovingly constructed locally by St. Petersburg native Dmitry Parfenov.
 The most interesting vehicles in the city belong to people who - for understandable reasons - aren't that eager to speak to the press or anyone else for that matter about their beloved cars. For example, one source who asked not to be identified, said that there is only one Rolls Royce Phan tom 5 in the city, and it belongs to businessman Mikhail Mirilashvili, presently in pre-trial detention under suspicion of kidnapping and murder.
 According to another source, one local official who is closely connected to President Vladimir Putin is the proud owner of an Aston Martin DB 7 Vantage. The only Lamborghini LM 002 in the city - one of 200 specially modified Rambo jeeps that were initially made for Arab oil tycoons - belongs to an unnamed businessman.
 According to Anatoly Safayev, deputy head of the sales department at Aksel Motors, a BMW dealership, no official dealer would dare sell such exclusive cars in St. Petersburg.
 &quot;People who buy these cars order them from Europe or go there themselves without using a [local] official dealer,&quot; Safayev said. &quot;In Russia, the BMW L7, which has been manufactured for about 6 years, is still exclusive. There are only a few L7s in Moscow, and the only one [in Petersburg] is in our showroom. Probably this is the most expensive car in the city.&quot; It is going for $155,000.
 The BMW L7 is designed to be driven by a chauffeur while the owner sits in the back. The vehicle is based on the BMW 750EL modification, but is even longer and more comfortable, so you have room to stretch your legs, play with the video or stereo system and order your staff around.
 Safayev said that the car is called &quot;an office on wheels,&quot; as there is a case for business papers in the back of the front seat, ports for a cell phone and fax and even a small refrigerator to keep the champagne chilled.
 The only other BMW over $100,000 is the BMW 750EL, which costs $105,000.
 Another of the most expensive and most elegant cars on the local market is the Jaguar Daimler.
 &quot;The word Daimler in the name of a car has nothing to do with Daimler-Benz,&quot; says Yury Tryasov, administrator of Jaguar Auto Center, a subsidary of Neva-Avtokom. &quot;Daimler just means an elite modification of Jaguar XJ8, which is one of the classic and most popular Jaguar modifications.&quot;
 In the same class as the BMW L7, the Daimler costs from $90,000 to $120,000, depending on the options. It has an all-leather interior with every possible electronic device you can imagine. 
 &quot;Jaguar Daimler is one of the three automobile brands chosen by the Queen of the United Kingdom,&quot; Tryasov said. &quot;Bentley and Rolls Royce are the other two.&quot;
 Since the beginning of the year, the Jaguar Auto Center has sold only one Jaguar Daimler, and two or three cars were brought to town from abroad, according to Tryasov. In total there are from 10 to 15 such cars in St. Petersburg.
 Close to the level of Jaguar Daimler and BMW L7 is Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG. But in contrast to BMW and Jaguar, Mercedes is a high-comfort sports car for owners who prefer to drive for themselves.
 &quot;An adrenaline fountain opens in your blood when you're driving that car,&quot; said Sergei Bulgakov, the head of sales department at Logovaz-Neva, the official local Mercedes dealer. &quot;It's an automobile for people who love driving and understand what really good handling is. There are only a few such cars in the city.&quot;
 In contrast to the smooth motion of a typical BMW and Jaguar, Mercedes' 8-valve engine can go from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 5.7 seconds. BMW, for instance which has 12-valve, 5.3 liter engine and needs seven seconds to reach 100 kilometers per hour. 
 The designers of all three of these cars spared no effort to come up with ways to make them more comfortable and more convenient. The BMW's trunk, for instance, opens with a button on the keys and closes with another button inside the trunk, a handy feature that can help keep your tuxedo from getting mussed. 
 The Mercedes offers an on-board computer that links to the owner's cell phone, providing enhanced address book, Internet access and other on-screen functions. It also provides satellite navigation, although, unfortunately, the nearest place where this function works is Finland.
 If you want a real one-of-a-kind, though, you need the Kombat armored VIP jeep, handmade by Dmitry Parfenov, who owns a construction firm of the same name that specializes in the construction and development of armored vehicles.
 &quot;Kombat is an acronym for 'battalion commander,'&quot; Parfenov said. &quot;It perfectly suits the movement of top management in dangerous zones.&quot;
 According to Parfenov, this vehicle offers protection from all types of firearms, including the armor-piercing bullets of the Dragunov sniper's rifle (SVD) which is the Russian Army standard. The design of the vehicle is not based on any other model, but the engine and some parts are made by General Motors.
 The standard Kombat model retails for $100,000. But Parfenov says that he recently invented a double-armor construction with ceramic filling that he claims will protect the vehicle from the army's standard anti-tank missile system. This modification ups the price to $180,000.
 The Kombat is designed for speed, with the speedometer topping off at 180 kilometers an hour. Nonetheless, its interior breathes luxury, with a leather interior, a mini-bar, complete climate control and an air-filtering system.

TITLE: maybe you could use a bodyguard
AUTHOR: by Sam Charap

PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: Now that you've labored long and hard to make the big bucks, one of the responsibilities your life of luxury entails is the task of security, of making sure that the high life is not just a passing phase. 
 As Douglas Boyce, the general director of St. Petersburg's Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, can tell you, securing your assets may not be such an easy chore in this city.
 In 1999, when Boyce led a team of investors to take over the factory from its former owners, he encountered both legal and physical threats to the investment that he was charged with protecting and developing.
 &quot;My job was to win the [court] case and to take the factory,&quot; he said, explaining that the former director of the factory had made use of his old Communist Party connections in order to have a lawsuit filed against the new owners. 
 &quot;The problem was that our lawyers got beaten up,&quot; he lamented. Other problems included armed guards standing at the entrance to the factory, and preventing the new owners from entering.
 The last thing Boyce needed was a group of the typical St. Petersburg &quot;security guards&quot; - those omnipresent 20-something, off-duty militia officers, who seem far more interested in taking cigarette breaks and talking to female passers-by than in looking after the objects they are supposed to be protecting.
 So Boyce decided to call Avanpost, one of St. Petersburg's premier security firms. 
 &quot;Within 20 minutes, [Avanpost] had set up 24-hour security [for the lawyers],&quot; he said. 
 &quot;They made a few phone calls, and the people guarding the building went away, [and] when I walked in, Avanpost was guarding my back. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to have been there.&quot;
 In fact, Avanpost can provide almost any imaginable security service. With the help of a senior staff that includes a former U.S. Navy Seal and a former colonel of the Federal Security Service, Dimitry Moshkov, the company's chairman, Avanpost can guarantee your safety from the minute your plane hits the tarmac at Pulkovo International Airport.
 For VIP types, a stretch Cadillac with bulletproof windows will meet your plane, whisk you through customs, and take you to your destination - be it a hotel, a business meeting or your mansion - with a three-car police escort.
 As you are being safely whisked to your destination, you will probably be far too relaxed to notice the hidden cars dotted along your route. It's standard practice among security agencies to scout out the route and do &quot;counterintelligence checks&quot; - scoping out potential threats - 10 to 15 minutes before a client's arrival, according to Moshkov.
 Once you are within the city limits, Moshkov and his associates can arrange personal bodyguard service, but that's just for starters. Need to go to a meeting outside the city? Avanpost has a helicopter at its disposal. 
 Looking for a pleasant yet safe spot to conduct your business meeting? They can rig a secure yacht, and you can discuss your deals while cruising around the Gulf of Finland. Such events have become &quot;fashionable,&quot; according to Moshkov.
 &quot;But even the highest level of security is only 80 percent,&quot; he cautioned. 
 Moshkov said that Avanpost runs checks on all of its clients before they sign a contract to determine the nature of the threats facing them. &quot;We try to find the reason for the lack of safety, to determine the client's enemy. The best defense is an attack,&quot; he said, giving a distinctly post-Soviet Russian twist to the expression. 
 Avanpost's clients, 75 percent of whom are foreigners, tend to be serious businesspeople who take advantage of the full range of security services Moshkov can offer, including everything from site protection - video surveillance, key-card entry systems, and so on - to counterintelligence information reporting, legal services, fraud investigations and even computer security. 
 &quot;We mostly work with businesspeople,&quot; Moshkov said. &quot;For them, what's important is not simply the quantity of bodyguards, but the quality of the partners they are working with.&quot;
 Moshkov said that Avanpost has the advantage of being a multinational security firm, as opposed to his purely Russian- or purely foreign-owned competitors. 
 In St. Petersburg, Avanpost currently maintains security for the Europe House business center, Delta Capital Management and, to this day, the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, among others.
 According to Moshkov, personal security services such as the ones described above range from $250 per day for basic protection to $4,000 per day for the full package.

TITLE: Israeli Pullout Gives Hope for Cease-Fire
AUTHOR: By Ibrahim Hazboun

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: BEIT JALLA, Palestinian Authority - Israeli forces pulled out of the Palestinian town of Beit Jalla before daybreak Thursday, hours after the Jewish state agreed to such a withdrawal if calm was restored. 
 The pullout, arranged with U.S. and European help, began two days after Israeli tanks and troops entered the village following a heavy exchange of fire between Palestinian gunmen in the city and the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, across a valley in a disputed part of Jerusalem. 
 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers headed out of Beit Jalla after exchanges of gunfire stopped around midnight, five hours before the withdrawal began. 
 Israel cabinet minister Dan Meridor said the troops would remain near the town to ensure that the gunfire would not resume. &quot;If there is quiet, so much the better. If not, we will have to go in again and this time in greater force and with more determination,&quot; he told Israeli Army Radio. 
 In Beit Jalla, masked Palestinian gunmen fired into the air to celebrate the withdrawal. The withdrawal was a victory for the Palestinians, said Hassan Abed Rabbo, local leader of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group. &quot;Our people taught the Israeli occupation a big lesson,'' he said. 
 The move came after a late-night meeting of top Israeli cabinet ministers in Jerusalem, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. 
 U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell talked with leaders on both sides to try to defuse the crisis. He called Arafat on Wednesday to assure him the Bush administration was pressing Israel to withdraw from Beit Jalla, just south of Jerusalem, State Department officials said. Powell also asked Arafat to help restore calm to the region, they said. Later, Powell called Peres, said a statement from Peres' office. 
 Peres spent Wednesday talking to officials on all sides in an effort to stop the shooting between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces and to pull the Israeli troops out of the town. 
 An aide to European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos said European Union experts were in the region trying to help bring an end to the fighting. 
 During the two days Israeli forces held positions in the town, Palestinian gunners continued to target Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood built on land captured by Israel in the 1967 war and annexed to Jerusalem. For the first time, they aimed 50-caliber machine-gun fire at the Jewish houses, and they also fired 60-millimeter mortar shells. One Palestinian police officer was killed and at least 20 people were injured, Palestinians said. 
 The State Department had welcomed the withdrawal agreement and held out hope that the truce could be a springboard to a wider accord.
 &quot;Stopping the violence is the way of getting there,'' State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said on Wednesday. 
 But the State Department heightened its criticism of the measures used by Israel in retaliation for terrorist attacks. 
 &quot;I think we've seen incursions before,'' Boucher said. &quot;There is a fundamental issue here, and that's trying to reverse agreements and understandings that have been made in the past.'' 
 The statement appeared a muted warning to Israel to reverse the Beit Jalla incursion, the longest-lasting of several into territory Israel turned over to the Palestinian Authority under the 1993 Oslo Accords. 
 Ben-Eliezer said Wednesday he had no plans to reoccupy Gilo. However, he said, if Palestinians resumed shooting on Gilo after an Israeli withdrawal, his troops would &quot;absolutely&quot; move back into Beit Jalla. 
 In 11 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Israeli forces have repeatedly entered Palestinian territories, but stayed only a few hours. The incursion, the most extended, threatened to enflame violence to a new peak. 
 Abed Rabbo said his forces received instructions Wednesday afternoon from Arafat to stop shooting. 
 Wednesday morning, firefights raged between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen in Beit Jalla and the nearby Aida Palestinian refugee camp, and 13 Palestinians were injured. In a first sign that a truce was being enforced, Palestinian security forces set up roadblocks at the entrance to Beit Jalla on Wednesday afternoon to keep gunmen out. 
 As part of the Israeli incursion, troops commandeered several rooftops of buildings with a view of the town. One was a Lutheran Church hostel.
 After a stiff protest from church leaders, the Israelis left the hostel early Wednesday. 
 Forty-five children in an orphanage next door, who had been confined indoors by the fighting and an Israeli curfew, were allowed outside to play on Wednesday. 
 Ten-year-old Shihade Sharabati said he was frightened by the sound of heavy gunfire. &quot;Today, we collected the empty bullets and we played with them,&quot; the boy said. &quot;I will keep them as souvenirs.&quot; 
 Elsewhere in the Palestinian territories, four Palestinians and an Israeli were killed in ongoing violence.
 One of the Palestinians died in an ambush attack on his car. Police suspect Jewish extremists carrying out a retaliatory raid. 
 In Hebron, an officer in Force 17, an elite unit of Arafat's police, was killed by Israeli gunfire. The Israelis reported exchanges of fire in Hebron through the day, and 15 Palestinians were wounded, Palestinians said. 
 In 11 months of fighting, 595 people have died on the Palestinian side and 163 have died on the Israeli side.

TITLE: Norway Applauds Haakon's Wedding
AUTHOR: By Doug Mellgren

PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: OSLO, Norway - She's a modern Cinderella. A pretty, single working mother from an ordinary family who was swept off her feet by a prince and into the royal household as Norway's future queen. And Norwegians love it. 
 When Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby said &quot;Ja,&quot; or yes, to Crown Prince Haakon at the Oslo Cathedral on Saturday, the ringing cheers of thousands gathered outside to watch on wide-screen TV echoed through the church. Some in the crowd wept with joy.
 &quot;I think she is wonderful. They are a royal couple for our generation,&quot; said 21-year-old Ingeborg Theimann, one of more than 100,000 mostly young Norwegians who turned out to cheer the wedding procession through downtown Oslo.
 Many Norwegians were doubtful when Haakon announced he was dating Hoiby and that they were moving in together 15 months ago. Even though single-motherhood and cohabitation are commonplace in liberal Norway, older Norwegians were troubled by the idea of a single mom someday being their queen. 
 For others, dark hints in the news media that Hoiby had been involved with drugs years ago raised questions. The father of her 4-year-old son has been convicted of narcotics possession. 
 The popularity of the figurehead monarchy, which dates to Norway's independence from Sweden in 1905, began slipping in opinion polls until, days before her wedding, now Crown Princess Mette-Marit faced the media. Fighting back tears, she acknowledged her &quot;wild&quot; youth and apologized. 
 That courage and honesty touched Norwegians. Her popularity instantly rose in polls. And with one-quarter of Oslo's population of 500,000 turning out to cheer the royal couple - plus much of the rest of the country watching on television - she seemed forgiven.
 Lutheran Bishop Gunnar Staalsett seemed to speak for the country when he said in his wedding sermon: &quot;Mette-Marit, you show courage and faith when you say 'yes' to such a strange future. You are starting a new chapter with a clean slate.&quot; 
 About 800 guests, including princes, princesses and a smattering of kings and queens, attended the hour-long ceremony.
 It was Norway's first royal wedding in 33 years. When Haakon's father King Harald V, as crown prince, married Queen Sonja it also caused a stir because she was born the commoner Sonja Haraldsen, daughter of a businessperson. But Norwegians embraced that couple as well, cheering with equal vigor in 1968. 
 &quot;Some people were skeptical about Mette-Marit but it was the same when the King married Sonja in 1968,&quot; said Heine Larsen, a 24-year-old student who came to watch the wedding procession. 
 When the newlyweds returned to the Royal Palace, thousands cheered them again as they waved and kissed in plain view on a balcony. After the first kiss, the crowd roared &quot;one more time&quot; as the crown princess held her son on one arm. 
 Overhead, a formation of four screaming Norwegian Air Force fighters passed low and in formation over the palace. 
 After the wedding banquet, fireworks and a ball, the couple were slipping away early Sunday on their honeymoon.

TITLE: WORLD WATCH
TEXT: Milosevic Trial
 

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands (Reuters) - Slobodan Milosevic took a combative stance on Thursday at his second appearance before the UN war-crimes court, prompting judges to cut off a tirade against what the former Yugoslav leader assailed as an "illegal" court.
 Milosevic told judges at the pre-trial hearing he was "in front of a false tribunal for false indictments," complaining about the conditions of his detention and challenging the court's right to try him.
 Judge Richard May cut off Milosevic's microphone and adjourned the hearing after around half an hour.
 "We are not going to listen to these political arguments," the judge told Milosevic, who faces three charges of crimes against humanity, including mass murder and deportation and one of violations of the laws or customs of war during Serb "ethnic cleansing" against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. 
 
 
Nepal Peace Talks
 

KATHMANDU, Nepal (Reuters) - A Nepali government team was to meet Maoist rebels in Kathmandu on Thursday for landmark peace talks aimed at ending the Himalayan kingdom's bloody insurgency that has claimed over 1,800 lives in five years.
 The meeting is the first formal direct contact between the two sides since the rebels, who model themselves on Peru's Shining Path guerrillas, took up arms against the constitutional monarchy in early 1996.
 The location and time of Thursday's meeting were not disclosed.
 The talks come five weeks after Sher Bahadur Deuba became the troubled kingdom's prime minister and issued an invitation to the rebels for negotiations.
 They also follow a wave of attacks by the rebels on police posts killing dozens of security personnel in an upsurge of violence after the June 1 massacre of King Birendra and eight other members of the royal family by drunken Crown Prince Dipendra.
 
 
NATO Mission
 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Wednesday that NATO troops could remain in Macedonia longer than the planned 30 days if their mandate was changed.
 But NATO Secretary General George Robertson insisted that the British-led force would stick to its time-limited mission to collect more than 3,000 weapons from ethnic Albanian fighters. Robertson said however that "there would not be a general standing at the airport with a stopwatch."
 "If the mission of collecting and destroying weapons takes a few more days, so be it," he wrote in a signed article in the Financial Times.
 But while NATO had "no discernible long-term role" in Macedonia, the alliance would not "just pack up and go home" once its disarmament mission was over, but would remain engaged politically to help maintain the momentum of the peace process.
 
 
Fiji Vote Continues
 

NADI, Fiji (Reuters) - Fijians returned to the polls for a fifth peaceful day of voting on Thursday to elect a civilian government 15 months after a racially inspired coup toppled the last one. Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian who was ousted as prime minister in the coup, remained a front-running candidate for his old job in the week-long poll.
 Voter turnout in Fiji's large Indo-Fijian electorate has been high, despite fears a victory by Chaudhry could spark violence.
 Conservative indigenous Fijian groups want to limit the political power of the country's large Indian community.
 "A vote for Mahendra is a vote for unity and peace in Fiji and our people know that," said Sanita, an Indo-Fijian, as she left the Lovu polling station in the Labour Party stronghold of Latouka. Chaudhry heads the Labour Party.
 
 
Freedom Fighter Dies
 

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Govan Mbeki, one of South Africa's most famous freedom fighters against apartheid rule and the father of President Thabo Mbeki, died on Thursday aged 91.
 A former leader of the African National Congress' fledgling guerrilla wing and a member of the Communist Party, Mbeki was jailed for life on sabotage charges in 1964, together with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu.
 During their stay on Robben Island, a sandy islet in shark-infested seas off Cape Town, they consistently refused to renounce the use of violence, and the government faced the danger that they could become martyrs if they died in prison.
 Fondly known as "Uncle Gov," Mbeki was an intellectual and a widely respected figure in South Africa's black townships and guerrilla camps across the borders, and with Mandela and Sisulu he became an international symbol of opposition to the apartheid regime of the white minority government.
 
 
Marriage Saga Ends
 

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The soap-opera saga of an archbishop who ran afoul of the Vatican by getting married came to an end with his wife accepting that he was leaving her and saying she hopes they would be reunited in the afterlife. 
 But religious experts say the impact of the Emmanuel Milingo affair is likely to linger, although more so for the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification movement than for the Vatican, which has weathered plenty of scandals in its 2,000-year history. 
 The Unification movement, they say, may have hurt its cause of trying to gain more mainstream respectability by accusing the Vatican of having drugged, brainwashed and kidnapped the archbishop, accusations often leveled against sects. 
 Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and Maria Sung parted ways Wednesday night, ending a saga that captivated Italy for weeks as Sung and her Unification supporters demanded the Vatican let her see her husband. 
 
 
Australia Storms Ship
 

CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia (AP) - Commandos armed with automatic weapons seized control of a Norwegian ship Wednesday after its captain defied orders not to bring its unwanted cargo of 438 refugees into Australian territorial waters. 
 Prime Minister John Howard, seeking a third term in elections later this year, has refused to take in the refugees, saying they were rescued in international waters and should have been taken to the closest port, which was in Indonesia. Many Australians are angry at the high cost of dealing with thousands of refugees who arrive each year. 
 The Australian government on Thursday again ignored intense international pressure, with Howard refusing to budge from his hardline stance. 
 "Everything we have done has been on our advice quite legal, and everything we do in the future will be quite legal," Howard said. "The legal position is that a ship is not entitled to remain in Australian territorial waters without our permission." 



TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Greene Withdraws
 

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - For more than two years, sprinter Maurice Greene has been the advertising face of the Goodwill Games in Australia, shown ready to burst from the starting blocks on billboards and in television commercials. 
 As it turns out, that's about as close as he'll get to running the 100-meter race. The marquee attraction and world- record holder pulled out of the event Thursday and canceled all on-track engagements for the rest of the season due to a leg injury. 
 Greene said Thursday he reinjured his left quadriceps during a workout on Monday. 
 
 
Isles Sign Peca
 

UNIONDALE, New York (Reuters) - Center Michael Peca, who sat out all of last season in a contract dispute with the Buffalo Sabres, signed a five-year contract with the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
 Newspapers reported the deal was worth $20 million.
 Peca, 27, was obtained from the Sabres in a draft-day deal for center Tim Connolly and left wing Taylor Pyatt.
 
 
Rowdy Rodman
 

NEWPORT BEACH, California (AP) - A judge Wednesday ordered prosecutors to turn over records requested by Dennis Rodman's attorney, who claims police targeted his client.
 Orange County Superior Court Judge Frances Munoz gave prosecutors until Sept. 17 to hand over reports of city code violations in the past year that are similar to those for which Rodman has been cited, prosecutor Michael Fell said. 
 "We will adjust our defense according to the information that is provided," said Paul Meyer, Rodman's attorney. 
 Rodman's loud parties have prompted neighbors to complain repeatedly to police over the past several years and have led to more than $3,000 in fines for noise violations. 
 In a separate case, police were investigating whether Rodman sprayed a Hooter's restaurant crowd with a fire extinguisher on Sunday after someone made a remark he didn't like.