SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #817 (82), Friday, November 1, 2002
**************************************************************************
TITLE: Kremlin Maintaining Hard Line
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - Moscow police arrested an alleged member of a Chechen terrorist gang who was suspected of planning a new attack, while top officials on Thursday presented a barrage of intelligence information to support their allegation that Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was behind the theater attack.
Police arrested Sergei Krym-Gerei, allegedly a member of prominent Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev's gang, a few days ago as he tried to sell eight kilograms of mercury in a bottle, said Filipp Zolotnitsky, a spokesperson for the city police department for fighting economic crimes. He wanted $600 for the substance, and had had already found a prospective client, Zolotnitsky said.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Sergei Yastrzhembsky presented what he said was evidence that Maskhadov had ordered the theater raid.
At a news conference, officials played tapes of conversations they intercepted between the hostage takers and contacts outside the theater. In one of the Chechen-language calls, translated into Russian, a voice identified as the attackers' leader, Movsar Barayev, told a man, identified as the rebels' chief ideologist Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, that "Shamil," meaning Basayev, was present during preparations for the hostage taking. "Aslan is aware Shamil was acting on Aslan's instructions," the voice said. The man identified as Yandarbiyev responded by suggesting that Barayev should claim that Maskhadov is not involved.
"There was other clear evidence that Mr. Maskhadov was fully aware of the developments and the people in the hall acted with his knowledge," Yastrzhembsky said, though he did not offer further proof.
Yastrzhembsky said Maskhadov had been placed on an international wanted list.
The government will also ask Qatar to extradite Yandarbiyev, Yastrzhembsky said. He also criticized Turkey for allegedly allowing funds for the Chechen rebels to be raised on its territory.
In another intercepted call presented at the news conference, Abu Bakar, earlier identified in media reports as Barayev's deputy, claimed that his band had more than 100 accomplices around Moscow who were ready to carry out suicide attacks.
Yastrzhembsky said the claim could have been false and intended to frighten authorities, because the hostage takers were aware their calls were being monitored. At the same time, he said the authorities had spotted one member of a security cordon around the theater who was found to be an informant for the terrorists.
Yastrzhembsky said the attackers had connections with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist groups.
Moscow Prosecutor Mikhail Avdyukov said some of the 41 hostage-takers whose bodies were recovered from the scene were foreigners from former Soviet republics and beyond. He said two surviving hostage takers, both Russian citizens, were in custody.
Moscow police on Thursday found a bus thought to have been used by the hostage takers to get to the theater and detained its driver and passengers, Interfax reported.
Avdyukov said the explosive detonated at a McDonald's restaurant in mid-October was similar in design to those found inside the theater. Three Chechens have been detained in connection with the McDonald's blast.
Officials showed reporters the explosive devices, most of them sealed in plastic evidence bags, that were taken from the theater. Federal Security Service expert Vladimir Yeryomin said the hostage takers had explosives equivalent to 110 to 120 kilograms of TNT, including two large devices, 25 smaller devices - mostly worn around the assailants' waists - and more than 100 grenades.
Authorities remained unable to come up with an exact figure of how many people had been held hostage Thursday. Avdyukov said some hostages had left the theater on their own after being freed by the troops.
Moskovskaya Pravda newspaper claimed Thursday that about 100 people remained unaccounted for. City authorities, however, said only 10 hostages remained unaccounted for on Wednesday.
Lyubov Zhomova, a spokesperson for the Moscow health department, said that 184 former hostages remained hospitalized Thursday, eight of them in a serious condition.
(AP, SPT)
TITLE: Foreigners Facing Yet More Visa Headaches
AUTHOR: By Robin Munro
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - A new law regulating the activities of foreigners living and working in Russia is meant to make life easier for everyone - expats, their employers, tourist agencies and ministries alike.
Instead, however, the law, which came into force this week, has created chaos and confusion.
As of Friday, for example, all employers and travel agencies wanting to issue visa invitations for their workers, clients or potential business partners must first reregister with the Interior Ministry.
The problem is there are nearly 40,000 companies that have issued invitations to foreigners in the past, and it will take months for the ministry to register each one that wants to do so under the new system, according to Sergei Melnikov, of the law firm Your Lawyer.
"The main question now is: What should organizations do if they need to invite somebody now?" Melnikov told the European Business Club during a briefing on the new law and its ramifications Thursday in Moscow. But, like nearly everyone else who has studied the issue, Melnikov has no answer.
The U.S. Consul General in Moscow, James Warlick, said that, for those expats who already have a visa, they can petition the PVU, the new name for the OVIR, the Interior Ministry's passport and visa agency, for an extension, but there is no guarantee of success.
As part of the revamp of the country's visa regime, the Foreign Ministry stopped issuing invitations for multi-entry visas Oct. 15 because of a bureaucratic mix up.
According to Warlick, foreigners already in Russia who need to get a new visa must first get a document from the PVU that says they are here legally before they can get an invitation from the Foreign Ministry.
Once the invitation is in hand, it is back to the PVU for the visa itself.
Warlick said that, as far as he knows, foreigners outside the country who want a visa will still be able to get one from the nearest embassy or consulate, but, of course, they will first need an invitation, and how long it will take to get one is anyone's guess.
Tourist agencies are already feeling the pinch, with several already seeing a sharp drop in business, and they are bracing for some rough months ahead.
"It looks like no one knows what is going to happen," said Natalya Krivonosova, corporate account manager at the Moscow office of IntelService Center, an international tourist agency that specializes in organizing business conferences.
She said that, before Oct. 15, the Foreign Ministry was handling about 2,000 visa applications a day - a volume "with which the Interior Ministry is not prepared to deal."
A woman who answered the telephone at the PVU office on Ulitsa Pokrova in Moscow declined to talk about the new system, or recommend someone who would.
"Probably," she said when asked if the PVU was prepared to begin issuing multi-entry visas, which the majority of Western expats have. "Come down in the morning. We are open."
Warlick said during his briefing to the American Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that from now on all foreigners must be registered with the PVU by their employer or "sponsor."
"Your sponsors will need to go to the [PVU] and register you. It will be up to them then to attest to the fact that you are in Russia legally, and they will have to do that. Then they will have to provide that information to the Foreign Ministry before you can get your next visa," he said.
Krivonosova said that she expects the PVU will take from two to three weeks to process an application for an invitation and a total of one month to actually get a visa. "This is for people who, in some cases, will only be here for two or three days," she added.
Even the law itself is not fully functioning, and it could take months to bring into force all the various corresponding legislation needed to fully activate it.
Among other things, the law creates a Russian version of the U.S. "green card," which would give permanent residents various new privileges, including the right to vote in municipal elections. But, like so many other elements of the law, corresponding laws and regulations needed to enforce are still on the drafting table.
According to the government's official newspaper, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the issues that have yet to be worked out as of Thursday include:
. the process for issuing temporary residence permits
. quotas for those permits
. quotas for guest workers
. social and legal guarantees for foreigners
. the rules for issuing work permits
. deportation guidelines
. illnesses that could be grounds for refusing entry
. territories forbidden to foreigners
. the nature of a foreigners' relationship with his or her sponsor
. creation of the database on foreigners.
Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov said in an interview published Thursday in Rossiiskaya Gazeta that implementing all aspects of the law will take "some time," but that the national database on foreigners should be in place by May.
When all is said and done, there will be three categories of foreigners in Russia legally - temporary visitor, temporary resident and permanent resident.
The visitor category, including many citizens of countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States, who do not need visas, can stay up to 90 days.
Andrei Chernenko, head of the Federal Migration Service, which is part of the Interior Ministry, told reporters Thursday that the main goal of the law is to legalize foreigners' activities in Russia.
Gryzlov said between 3 million and 4 million illegal immigrants are currently working in the shadow economy, and no more than 300,000 foreigners have work permits a year.
The Labor Ministry intends to issue no more than 530,000 work permits.
He said that a new migration card will begin being issued in November. Foreigners will be required to fill in the card when entering the country and hand it over to the Federal Border Service when exiting, and should carry in on their person at all times, Gryzlov said.
If a person changes apartments or their workplace, the Interior Ministry must be informed and the new information listed on the card, he said.
Anyone caught without the card by July 1 could face deportation, Chernenko said. Chernenko also mentioned the creation of a "migration fee" of $100 per person that would bring in some $30 million a year.
Other laws are being drafted that would spell out penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants, Chernenko said.
Cheap foreign labor "deprofessionalizes" the Russian work force, according to Gryzlov.
"It's no secret that in the spring, in many agricultural regions, drunkenness increases among the local population, who are pushed out of the labor market by our guests from the south, who cost employers less," he said.
TITLE: Siege Blows Maskhadov's Cover
AUTHOR: By Nabi Abdullaev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Before the theater siege, Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov was regarded as Russia's most viable negotiating partner for a settlement in Chechnya. Now, his legitimacy, in both Russia and the West, has suffered a devastating blow, as he has become inextricably linked to the radical wing of the Chechen separatist movement.
The brutality of the hostage taking, combined with a war of words from Moscow, might end up delivering what Russia has hoping for - justification in the West for the war in Chechnya.
"Our policy on Chechnya has moved closer to Russia," a senior U.S. diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "This attack has substantially damaged [the Chechen] cause."
The hostage drama is narrowing the gap between the West's perception of Chechen separatists and Russia's, with "Maskhadov the politician" beginning to look more like "Maskhadov the terrorist," said Andrei Ryabov, a political analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center.
"The Chechen cause had two faces: The one turned to the West was of a moderate Maskhadov and his European-looking envoy Akhmed Zakayev," Ryabov said. "For Russia, the rebels had reserved the mad murderer Khattab and outspoken terrorist Shamil Basayev.
"The hostage drama blended these two faces into one in the world media and public consciousness,"he said.
The day before his death, the hostage takers' leader, Movsar Barayev, told NTV television that he was acting under orders from Chechen warlord Basayev, and answered to Maskhadov. Maskhadov appointed Basayev as head of the rebels' operations in June.
"The reaffirmation of his [Maskhadov's] alliance with Basayev tipped the balance against Maskhadov as interlocutor," the U.S. diplomat said. "We see him as unwilling to stand up to terror."
Ryabov said the theater attack had caught the West off-guard. "The West is confused because the image of the rebels that it so wanted to believe did not stand the test," he said.
In a move signaling the change of attitude in the West, Denmark arrested Zakayev at Russia's request Wednesday. Zakayev was in Copenhagen for a Chechen conference that Moscow had angrily opposed. Denmark, which had permitted the conference, citing the right of free speech, changed its mind after Russia sent over information linking Zakayev to terrorism. Moscow has asked for Zakayev's extradition.
International warrants were issued for Zakayev and Maskhadov in 1999, the Kremlin's chief spokesperson for Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, said Thursday. He said they are accused of carrying out an armed uprising in Chechnya, participating in illegal armed formations and attempting to kill Russian service personnel. Yastrzhembsky was speaking at a news conference in which he and other top officials presented what they called "compelling evidence" that Maskhadov was involved in the theater attack.
"We can see that the image of Maskhadov - even in the eyes of those who pushed Moscow toward negotiations with Maskhadov - has seriously paled," Yastrzhembsky said. "Name one leader [in Chechnya] with whom we could negotiate. I don't know of any such person."
For his part, Maskhadov failed to try to distance himself from the theater attack until after it was over. Ryabov said Maskhadov must have had some knowledge about the plan and waited to condemn the attack because he expected Moscow to cave in to the hostage-takers.
"Maskhadov then would step out as a formidable peacemaker, and the public's attention would shift from the hostage crisis onto him," he said. "The violent pretext of the talks, which Maskhadov would have used pragmatically, would quickly fade from public memory."
Staff writer Kevin O'Flynn contributed to this report.
TITLE: Doctors Say Situation Hindered Treatment
AUTHOR: By Oksana Yablokova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - More lives might have been saved if rescuers had tried to resuscitate hostages outside the theater, rather than pile them into buses and ambulances and rush them to the hospital, doctors said.
However, the rescuers did everything possible given the circumstances, they said.
"For the Interior Ministry and rescue workers, a quick evacuation was the priority," Yury Pavlov, a doctor in the Health Ministry's Center for Medicine in Disaster, said by telephone Thursday. "The most important thing for doctors was to provide the hostages with first aid. The two things were very difficult to combine."
Doctors were not allowed to treat hostages inside the theater, particularly in the main hall, where most of them were after the assault by special forces, he said.
Outside the theater, rescuers, fearing an explosion, scrambled to put hostages in vehicles and get them away from the site, he said. Also, there were so many unconscious bodies piling up that there was no time to try to resuscitate one without possibly losing 10 others, he said.
"We did everything that was feasible given the circumstances," he said.
Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov said Thursday that City Hall put 452 ambulance crews on alert ahead of the Saturday raid. However, there was a delay between the raid and the evacuation because the theater was blocked off by heavy trucks meant to shield surrounding buildings from a possible blast.
Yury Chubarov, an anesthesiologist with 42 years of experience, said that the number of casualties could have been cut by one third if simple artificial ventilation procedures had been administered on the spot. He said the manually operated equipment to clear lungs is carried in ambulances and would have worked better than any antidote.
Health Minister Yury Shevchenko said Wednesday that more than 1,000 doses of antidote were used while rescuing the hostages.
Gennady Meshcheryakov, head of the anesthesiology department at the Institute of Intensive Care, said lung ventilation could have saved more lives, but the conditions under which the doctors were working were too pressing.
"It is very difficult to say. If there had been an explosion, the victims would have numbered in the thousands, not dozens or hundreds. This was taken into account in choosing the priority," Meshcheryakov said.
Chubarov said lives might have been lost because rescue workers and special forces officers took hostages out of the theater by their hands and feet, with their heads thrown back - which could have caused choking.
Most of the hostages were rushed to nearby City Hospital No. 13 instead of the better equipped Sklifosovsky Hospital, which has a special toxicology ward, Novaya Gazeta reported.
Hospital No. 13 was so overloaded with new patients that cleaners and even other patients were drafted to carry them in, the newspaper said.
Staff writer Nabi Abdullaev contributed to this report.
TITLE: Government Finally Releases Gas Specifics
AUTHOR: By Judith Ingram
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Ending four days of official silence, Health Minister Yury Shevchenko revealed Wednesday that the gas used in the special-forces assault on the theater was based on fentanyl, a fast-acting opiate that has many medical applications.
Shevchenko said that the compound was an anesthetic and could not cause death.
"By themselves, these compounds cannot provoke a lethal outcome," Shevchenko said in televised comments.
The announcement appeared to be an attempt to counter criticism, especially from foreign governments, that Russian officials were being too secretive and that the lack of information about the gas used in the raid on Saturday may have increased the number of fatalities. At least 118 of the hostages died after exposure to the gas, which also incapacitated the hostage takers and led to the safe rescue of more than 660 theatergoers.
Shevchenko said the deaths occurred because the compound was used on people who had been starved of oxygen, dehydrated, hungry, unable to move adequately and under severe stress.
"It is precisely these factors which led to a lethal outcome for some of the hostages," Shevchenko said.
The U.S., British and other foreign governments had pressed Moscow to name the gas used. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the Netherlands said the group's director-general, Rogelio Pfirter, had requested that Russia clarify what gas was used.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Alexander Yakovenko said on television that the use of the gas did not violate any of Russia's commitments to international conventions on chemical agents.
Thomas Zilker, a toxicology professor at Munich University Clinic in Germany, said Wednesday that blood and urine samples from two Germans among the former hostages showed traces of halothane, a gas used as an inhaled anesthetic. He said he believed the gas pumped into the theater likely contained additional substances.
TITLE: How a Couple Survived 'Surprise' Ending
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - When friends gave Raisa and Nikolai Lebedev tickets to some of the best seats in the house to "Nord-Ost," they told the couple to watch out for the big surprise at the end.
So when armed Chechens rushed into the building and announced everyone inside was a hostage, Nikolai couldn't believe it was real.
"My friend promised we would have a very big surprise at the end of the show," Nikolai said. "I was so struck that I even called my friend and asked him if that was the surprise he talked about."
He and his wife, in Moscow on a business trip from the northwestern city of Pskov, never got to see the show's finale - a World War II bomber plane that lands on the stage. Instead, they were held captive.
On Tuesday, Raisa left City Hospital No. 13 for a tearful reunion with her husband, who had been discharged from another hospital the previous day.
During the standoff, the rebels set up explosives around the theater; the biggest of these - a cylinder said by news agencies to hold 50 kilograms of TNT - was set up right next to Nikolai and Raisa's seats in the center of the audience, considered among the house's best.
A teenage girl sitting in front of the couple was becoming hysterical, so Raisa, a former English teacher, tried to calm her by braiding her hair and playing word games along with some other children.
Raisa said she actually felt sorry for her captors and was moved when they gave juice and chocolate to children. But she never stopped thinking about the "very real possibility that they would blow all of us up in the end."
Now reunited, the couple said they agreed with the decision to storm the theater and unleash the gas.
"I think the Russian forces did the right thing," Raisa said. "If not for that gas, maybe everyone would have died."
When Nikolai noticed the gas, he soaked his handkerchief in water, tore it in half and gave one piece to his wife. But Raisa fainted almost at once.
Her husband tried to carry her unconscious body out of the theater, but the gas overpowered him and he collapsed, banging Raisa's forehead.
The Wednesday night performance was the second musical the couple had seen in Moscow. They had earlier seen the Russian production of "Chicago," and friends told them to see "Nord Ost" so they could compare the productions and enjoy the surprise end to the show.
"I don't think I'll come back to Moscow for another five years," Raisa said.
But her husband disagreed. While in the hospital, he stayed in the same ward as a trombonist from the musical. They exchanged addresses, and he promised to "come and see the show to the end, at some point."
TITLE: Relatives Looking for Answers
AUTHOR: By Yevgenia Borisova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Maria Panova would have turned 27 on Thursday. But her family and friends bought flowers Wednesday and placed them on her grave, as they buried her in a cemetery near Izmailovsky park, not far from her home.
There is no cause of death listed on her death certificate.
Her distraught mother, Tatyana Panova, said she is convinced the cause is linked to how her daughter was treated during the theater evacuation or at City Hospital No. 13, where she was taken after the storming of the theater.
"When I caressed her head, I noticed it was all scratched at the back, like my daughter had been pulled by her feet and her head dragged along the ground," Maria Panova said. "The gas did not do that; only negligence."
Officials at Hospital No. 13, whose scare resources were strained by the admittance of more than 300 hostages, did not answer the telephone Thursday.
Tatyana Panova said she found Maria's name on a list of hostages taken to Hospital No. 13, but the list at the hospital had no mention of Maria.
Later that day she recognized Maria in hospital footage broadcast on Channel One television, formerly ORT.
She called Channel One to ask about the hospital and was advised to speak with the Emergency Situations Ministry, which had provided the footage.
The ministry sent her to the rescue service. The service said it knew nothing about the footage.
"I asked my district administration to help, and they prepared an appeal," she said. "But ORT said they needed a document from the prosecutors. By then, on Tuesday, we found her in Morgue No. 9."
An ORT spokesperson said Thursday that he needed more information before he could provide comment.
Tatyana Panova said she and a group of other relatives who had lost loved ones in the raid were considering filing a lawsuit for negligence. She was not sure who might be sued.
"I would have been relieved if they had just located her and let me hold her hand in her last hours. Just to be beside her. To caress her. Why was it all organized in such an inhuman way?"
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Third Hurdle
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly passed the 2003 city budget on its third and final reading on Friday by a vote of 31 to one, with one abstention, Interfax reported.
The budget calls for a deficit of 470.7 billion rubles ($46.8 million), the first time the budget has run a deficit since 1997. The budget now waits for the signature of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev before passing into law.
Signing Up
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Four hundred and ninety five people have already announced their intention to run for seats in the elections to the Legislative Assembly, which are scheduled for Dec. 8, Interfax reported on Wednesday.
According to the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission, 189 candidates had already been registered by the commission by Thursday, including 33 of the present 49 deputies in the chamber.
Two present deputies, Pavel Soltan and Vadim Boitanovsky, have had their applications to take part in the elections turned down by the electoral commission for involvement in illegal activities.
Lebed's Pilots Charged
MOSCOW (AP) - Two helicopter pilots have been charged in connection with the April helicopter crash that killed Krasnoyarsk Governor Alexander Lebed, prosecutors said Thursday.
The pilots of the Mi-8 helicopter that hit a power line were charged with violations of air-safety regulations leading to at least three deaths, prosecutors said.
One pilot, Tagir Akhmerov, received official notice of the charges against him on Oct. 24, Interfax reported. The other, Alexei Kurilovich, has not received notice because he is ill, it said.
Rebels Kill 8
VLADIKAVKAZ, North Ossetia (AP) - At least eight Russian service personnel in Chechnya were killed in rebel attacks or land-mine explosions in the previous 24 hours, an official in the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration said Thursday.
Two Russian paramilitary police officers were killed in a rebel ambush in the Urus-Martan region in southwestern Chechnya, the official said on condition of anonymity. Another soldier died when his armored vehicle was shelled in the southern village of Stariye Atagi, and two sappers died after stepping on a mine planted by rebels in the Achkhoi-Martan region, the official said.
Federal forces have stepped up searches for suspected rebels throughout Chechnya following last week's hostage-taking in Moscow. At least 150 people have been detained on suspicion of rebel ties in since Wednesday, the official said.
Go on Arms Deal
MOSCOW (AP) - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said Thursday that he hoped the State Duma would soon ratify the U.S.-Russian arms control treaty signed by President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush in May, Interfax reported.
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov spoke as the government gave the agreement its approval, a necessary step before submitting the document to parliament. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the treaty was returned to Putin for submission to the legislature.
The treaty calls for both countries to cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals over the next decade to 1,700-2,200 warheads each, down from approximately 6,000 each has now.
TITLE: City Charter Court Gets Down to the Fine Details
AUTHOR: By Claire Bigg
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A law requiring at least 20 percent of voters to cast ballots before the results of elections for the Legislative Assembly are considered official has led the City Charter Court to hand down a ruling on what would appear an unlikely situation.
In answer to a request filed in the name of the Legislative Assembly on Oct. 9, the court ruled that the old assembly would continue to sit, should an insufficient number of deputies be elected to form a quorum in the new assembly.
An earlier law, which had required that at least 25 percent of eligible voters cast ballots for the results to be official, never resulted in less than 34 deputies, the number required for the establishment of a quorum, being elected.
The Legislative Assembly elections are scheduled for Dec. 8.
"If two thirds of the deputies fail to be elected, the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputies from the previous assembly will remain in office until the first day of work, or the first session, of the new Legislative Assembly," said Olga Tulsanova, the court's spokesperson.
The figure of 34 deputies is particularly important, as bills related to certain questions, including changes to the City Charter, require a two-thirds majority to pass.
Most lawmakers welcomed the decision, although a number say the City Charter, which stipulates that the lawmakers' term of office ends on Jan. 6, still muddies the issue should the total of 34 lawmakers not be reached.
"The court issued a ruling, and there's no reason to file an appeal," said Legislative Assembly lawmaker Arkady Kramarev, of the Power Party. "But I do not feel the decision has shed much light on the question. There are still many blurry points."
"From a rational point of view, this decision was proper, as the city should not be left without a legislative authority," said lawmaker Leonid Romankov, a member of the Union of Right Forces faction. "From a legal point of view, I'm not sure. I have yet to see the full text of the decision."
The court's ruling also specified that, once the new assembly sits for the first time, the terms of all members in the last assembly would expire, even for those who represent districts that have not elected a new member. These districts would be left without representation until a by-election in which at least 20 percent of the voters cast ballots could be held.
"If a district ends up without a deputy, then the Legislative Assembly will just have to function a deputy short. That is the case now, because [lawmaker Sergei] Shevchenko decided not to complete his term," said Kramarev.
All the same, Romankov stressed that the decision covered what was really only a theoretical situation.
"I don't think the elections will be a massive failure. Maybe one or two districts will be left without deputies, but not more," he said.
"The Legislative Assembly's decision to address the court comes from the fact that the City Charter is sometimes unclear," Karamerev added. "Rumors had also started circulating that the elections would not take place."
Romankov said that the rapidly approaching elections were largely responsible for the assembly's sudden inquiry.
"Until people hear the sound of thunder, they don't bother to cross themselves," he said.
TITLE: Barter Deals Frustrate Growth
AUTHOR: By Victoria Lavrentieva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on Thursday called on the cabinet to take "urgent measures" to counter the re-emergence of barter and the increasing role of the state in the economy.
"Urgent measures are needed in order to address these negative trends and to prevent economic growth from further slowing," Kasyanov told cabinet members during their weekly meeting.
"I am concerned with the increase of the number of state employees and the growth of barter transactions between state-owned companies, which is taking place for the first time in three years," Interfax quoted him as saying.
The World Bank on Tuesday warned that economic growth is in jeopardy because jobs are becoming more scarce in the most efficient areas of the economy, while the workforce is growing in the most unproductive and low-paying area - the state sector.
Most economists polled consider the trend worrying, but few expect any progress to be made in the near future.
The economy has slowed steadily since 2000, when it grew a record 10 percent. Last year, it grew 5.4 percent and is on track this year to grow 4 percent. More worrying, Kasyanov said, is that growth continues to be natural-resource driven. While natural-resource sectors grew 6 percent in January to September, versus 5.5 percent in the same period last year, manufacturing growth slowed to 3 percent from 5.5 percent, he said.
If the government is to achieve its aim of growing 8 percent to 9 percent a year over the next decade, it will have to reduce the state sector's share of gross domestic product to 25 percent from the current 36 percent, according to most estimates.
"This is a very difficult task, in both the political and economic senses, which requires much more than just reducing staff," said Alexei Zabotkine, an economist at UFG. "We don't expect any significant changes to take place before parliament and presidential elections in 2003 and 2004."
Another warning sign, economists say, is that both production and labor costs have reached maximum capacity, which translates into lower growth rates in the medium term.
Evidenced by the financial reports released this week by Sibneft and Yukos, as well as over-production troubles plaguing flagship automaker AvtoVAZ, the costs of operating a business in Russia are rising at an unexpectedly high rate, analysts say.
"It is true that operating costs for industrial companies are on the rise, and wages are the most important factor," said Yevsei Gurvich of the Economic Expert Group think tank.
"The standard response to this problem has also become predictable, i.e. to fire large numbers of employees," said Chris Weafer, chief strategist with Alfa Bank.
If the trend continues, a surge in unemployment will be unavoidable without new investment or a rise in the number of small and medium-size businesses.
Gurvich said that the current very low investment rate is the biggest threat in the near term. "The rate of investment in 2002 is lower than economic growth. This is the key factor preventing the economy from becoming more competitive and growing faster," he said.
TITLE: Bill Dodger Given Suspended Jail Sentence
AUTHOR: By Vladislav Maximov
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: MOSCOW - In a landmark legal case, a former collective farm chief in Ulyanovsk has been given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and fined 55,000 rubles ($1,735) for dodging his electricity bills - for 11 years.
The suit against Alexander Trishkin, currently the chairperson of a local cooperative, was filed by regional utility Ulyanovskenergo, which told the court that Trishkin owes it a total of 340,000 rubles ($10,800).
Ulyanovskenergo spokesperson Irina Nikolayeva said her company is preparing another suit to recover the full amount.
Trishkin could not be reached for comment, but Nikolayeva said that he was relieved he was not put behind bars.
Ulyanovskenergo's parent company, national-power monopoly Unified Energy Systems, which has been aggressively pursuing debtors, was delighted with the court's ruling.
"I can't remember an occasion when someone was prosecuted for stealing electricity," UES spokesperson Andrei Yegorov said.
According to company data, UES was owed 78.67 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) in outstanding bills by its corporate and private clients as of Oct. 1.
Yegorov said that UES lawyers characterized their victory as "fantastic." Previous attempts to collect debts through the courts had been unsuccessful.
"It's not hard to demonstrate in court that someone is [illegally] plugged into the grid," said a UES official who requested anonymity. "But it is extremely hard to prove that electricity has been used. Today, however, they managed to prove that energy was stolen."
While the ruling may not trouble the consciences of hardened nonpayers, UES hopes it gives them something to fear.
"The events are unique - especially when you remember that they happened in the Ulyanovsk region," enthused Irina Surikova, spokesperson for SMUEK, Ulyanovskenergo's managing company. "The regional prosecutor's office declared war on the energy companies a month ago," she said.
Ulyanovsk is in southern Russia near the Volga River.
TITLE: Local Ad Market Booms To $2.64 Billion for 2002
AUTHOR: By Larisa Naumenko
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russia's advertising market is expected to balloon by 50 percent this year, taking total turnover to $2.64 billion, the Russian Association of Advertising Agencies, or RARA, said Thursday.
It will be the first time the market will exceed pre-crisis levels, which peaked at $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion in 1998, before imploding to a mere $760 million the following year.
"The advertising industry reflects the state of the country's economy," said RARA president Vladimir Yevstafyev. "Russia's economy is stabilizing and the advertising market is growing."
Among the fastest growing sectors in the industry is television advertising, which is expected to total $880 million, giving an 83-percent rise on the same figure for last year. This increase, however, is dwarfed by the predictions being made for Internet advertising, which is expected to reach $9 million, giving a 125-percent increase on last year; and advertising in cinemas, which is expected to double this year and reach $8 million.
Radio advertising is forecast to grow 27 percent to $80 million, and print advertising is to total $590 million - $380 million in newspapers and $210 million in magazines - an increase of 26 percent.
Outdoor advertising is predicted to grow substantially in the coming year. It is expected to increase by 45 percent and reach $400 million. This figure will be surpassed by direct marketing, however, which is expected to grow by 55 percent to $170 million.
Yevstafyev said that one of the major driving forces behind the market's impressive growth was an average rise of 30 percent in the cost of advertising charged in the various media.
The entry on to the market of a number of large, new advertisers, and a considerable swelling in the number of small and medium-sized businesses prepared to increase their advertising budgets also fueled growth.
Andrei Fedotov, executive director of the research company RPRG, agreed with the main elements of RARA's forecast for this year's advertising market, but estimated last year's advertising market to have amounted to $1.9 billion, in contrast to RARA's $1.7 billion.
"Television and outdoor advertising grew, mainly due to increasing prices and a larger number of medium-sized advertisers with budgets of $500,000 to $1 million," Fedotov said.
Fedotov also noted that television-advertising fees would grow, approaching Western prices, which are on average 3 1/2 times higher than the prices charged by the national stations in Russia.
"This means that only the largest advertisers will be able to afford television advertising," Fedotov said. "This isn't bad, since this will lead to growth in other media, such as radio and newspapers, and regional media especially," Fedotov said.
Print and radio advertising has risen due to the increasing number of newspapers, magazines and radio stations, as well as an increase in prices, he added.
Yevstafyev said that the country's advertising market is expected to grow at about the same rate next year and reach $4 billion.
TITLE: Old Machinery Holding Back Paper and Pulp
AUTHOR: By Angelina Davydova
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: In spite of its vast forest resources, Russia has an undeveloped pulp-and-paper industry, according to participants in a conference focussing on the sector organized by the Adam Smith Institute. High capital costs, outdated machinery and over-staffing were listed among factors explaining the poor condition of the industry.
Vladimir Chuiko, president of Bumprom, a holding company with a number of interests in the sector, described the current development of the industry as being weak and making poor use of the available natural resources. "Our forest stocks are four times larger than those in the U.S., but we process a sixth of their total, export only a fifth of their total for exports and produce 14 times less, per capita, than they do in the U.S.," he said.
According to Chuiko, the paper and pulp sector accounts for 3.7 percent of total industrial production in Russia and is subject to high levels of concentration, with the ten largest paper mills accounting for 70 percent of pulp and 75 percent of paper production in the country.
Chuiko also warned that the paper mills were reaching their production capacities, while the sector suffers from the deteriorating quality of machinery. "In the period between 1992 and 2002, we've lost the capacity to produce 1.5 million tons of paper per year," he said.
The prospects for 2003 are not good, with a weak demand for pulp and paper products and falling global prices, said David Bailey, president of International Paper. Deputy Presidential Representative for the Northwest Region Lyubov Sovershaeva said, however, that, in spite of the negative trends worldwide, the production of cardboard and packaging materials are growing in Russia. She also said that the government plans to increase pulp and paper production three to four times by 2015, with state support being given to wood-processing technologies.
Bailey argued that export-duty policies in Russia were creating an artificial brake on the sector's development, with duties on exports lower on raw materials than on finished and semi-finished products, rather than the other way round.
Alexander Belyakov, chairperson of the Duma Committee on Natural Resources, announced that a new concept for the development of forestry would be presented in the State Duma on Friday.
According to the new Forestry Code, entrepreneurs will be allowed to rent forest territories for 49 years, rather than for the five currently allowed, he said. "In time, they will get the chance to own these forests, so we are gradually moving into the private ownership of forestry," he said.
Seizures and hostile takeovers of paper mills were cited as another factor negatively influencing the sector by many of the participants in the conference. "The pulp-and-paper market in Russia is moving in the direction of consolidation," said Derek Bloom, a partner at the Coudert Brothers law firm, adding that the process often involves conflicts among shareholders and even criminal behavior.
As evidence of this tendency, Zakhar Smushkin, chairperson of the Ilim Pulp Enterprise, said that hostile takeovers had been attempted at the Kotlas, Arkhangelsk, Vyborg and Bratsk pulp and paper mills over the last few months. Belyakov said that the cause of these conflicts, in the majority of cases, was to be found in the fact that they had been improperly privatized.
TITLE: World Bank Gives Bad Forecast
AUTHOR: By Victoria Lavrentieva
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The World Bank painted a bleak picture of the country's economic health Tuesday, saying that job creation has been confined to the most unproductive and low-paying sectors and that little has been done to address overdependence on oil and gas.
The government is trying to cut budget expenditures and reduce the burden of the ineffective state sector, but just the opposite is happening, the bank said in its quarterly report on Russia.
Since August 2001, public-sector employment and wages rose faster than any other sector, including oil, the country's most competitive and productive industry, said Christof Ruhl, the bank's chief economist for Russia.
"In addition to the export-oriented sectors, it was public services, mainly health and education, that provided the strongest real-wage increases, and it has also been the government which increased employment and provided new jobs," said Ruhl.
In real terms, public-sector wages remain below pre-1998 crisis levels, whereas most other industries have seen wages surpass 1997 levels as jobs are shed and efficiency rises.
"In dollar terms, public-sector-wage levels have yet to reach where they were at in 1997," Renaissance Capital economist Alexei Moiseyev said, adding that, by any standard, teachers and doctors are among the lowest-paid workers in the country.
But what is really worrying, according to Ruhl, is that public-sector growth is on the regional level and, most often, occurs in the poorest regions.
"These regions can't pay; they increase wage arrears and, in the end, come to the federal government for financial support," Ruehl said.
Although the government is working to address social problems and create jobs in depressed regions, by doing this, it is also creating more long-term structural imbalances in the economy by supporting the least-productive sector.
According to the latest government figures, employment in the fuel-and-energy sector has shrunk by 7 percent since August 2001.
Employment in all other sectors, including machine building, agriculture and transport, has shrunk by an average of 3 percent.
The only sectors to see job growth of more than 1 percent were the gas industry, financial services and public services - health, education, culture and arts.
During the same period, wages in all private sectors rose 10 percent to 15 percent, or half the rate of the public sector.
There are some bright spots.
According to the World Bank, productivity in the communications sector has increased 12.8 percent, agriculture 11.8 percent and trade and catering 8.1 percent, since August 2001.
"These figures are very impressive and show that non-export-oriented sectors are still competitive, despite the real appreciation of the ruble," Moiseyev said.
Even so, "with the most active economic sectors and the budget both dependent on natural-resource prices, it would be hard to argue that the external vulnerability of Russia's economy has diminished," the World Bank said in its report.
Ruhl said that there is still little evidence that domestic industries are expanding fast enough to cushion against a sudden decline in crude prices.
TITLE: Experts Give Warning on Minors Consuming Beer
AUTHOR: By Alex Nicholson
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Watch out boys. That beer you're drinking can make you a girl.
The alleged gender-bending properties of the amber nectar was just one of the scores of facts cited by a panel of doctors who assembled Wednesday to highlight the threat to the nation's youth.
"Youngsters don't see beer as an alcoholic drink, but as a means of quenching thirst," said Vladimir Nuzhny, head of the toxicology department at a Health Ministry institute.
"And the more they drink beer in their youth, the more likely they are to develop diseases like alcoholism later."
The number of minors being treated for beer-related ailments has multiplied sevenfold since 2000, he said.
Most are between the ages of 16 and 17 and demonstrate a clear dependence on beer, drinking an average of three liters a day.
As well as making teenagers more likely to become alcoholics in adulthood, it exposes them to the dangers of phytoestrogens, which, as Nuzhny put it, "can have a negative effect on their hormone situation."
"It is no surprise to see a young mother pushing a baby carriage and swigging on a bottle of beer; children see their parents drinking beer in front of the television," said Alexander Magalif of the Moscow Institute of Psychiatry.
Nikolai Gerasimenko, chairperson of the State Duma's health and sports committee, was more blunt: "You see them in town, wandering around drinking beer, wearing their Caucasian hats backward - you don't even see that in Africa."
Nuzhny cited a study in which 12 participants were tested to gauge the effects of vodka, beer and canned gin and tonic. The symptoms of drunkenness and hangover were similar in all cases, he said, though participants found the gin and tonic particularly debilitating.
Brewer Ochakovo said that the test had been conducted on too small a scale.
The panel urged officials to put strict limits on beer advertisements, ban the sale of beer to minors and outlaw drinking in public.
The experts cited figures that they said showed that, while beer consumption is soaring, vodka consumption, contrary to recent reports, is not falling.
Pavel Shakin of the National Alcohol Association said that vodka production increased 10.4 percent over the first eight months of year, while beer production grew 15 percent.
Indeed, according to market research agency Biznes Analitika, beer sales are expected to rise to $6.5 billion next year from an estimated $5.8 billion this year. The entire alcohol industry is expected to generate $16.2 billion in sales next year, according to the agency.
Shapkin said that people are succumbing to the Russian habit of topping off beer with vodka. As the phrase goes: "Beer without vodka is like casting your money to the wind," he said.
Ridiculous, according to the Russian Brewers Union. The increase in consumption is due to more distilleries coming out from underground and legally reporting their earnings to the tax authorities.
The Brewers Union countered with an exhaustive list of beer's beneficial properties, such as strengthening bones and reducing hypertension. A Boston mental hospital even replaced its patients' medication with a bottle of beer each day, sending many illnesses into remission, the union said.
Union President Vyacheslav Mamontov said that his association, too, is against drinking on the street. "Beer is worthy of better," he said, adding that there is already a ban on minors buying beer, but it is not enforced.
"Why do you see kids wandering around drinking beer? Because, if their parents don't have money, there's nothing for them to do," Mamontov said. "It's a problem of society today."
Natalia Zagvozdina, beer analyst at Renaissance Capital, said that the prevalence of kiosks is another factor encouraging teenagers to drink. "Just 2 percent of all sales nationwide are made through retail outlets. People mostly buy from kiosks, where they don't care to whom they are selling," she said. "I don't think that if you stop kids from drinking beer brewers will notice a drop in sales."
TITLE: AvtoVAZ Mulls Cutting Up to 12,000 Jobs
AUTHOR: By Maria Rozhkova
and Alexander Grishin
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: MOSCOW - No. 1 carmaker AvtoVAZ is planning to fire up to 12,000 workers, sources say, in what would be one of the largest layoffs in Russia's corporate history.
AvtoVAZ president Vitaly Vilchik said that the company is laying off "excess workers" amid an overproduction crisis, the Ladaonline Internet newspaper reported Monday. AvtoVAZ is unable to sell its models, which include the popular Lada, following an inflow of cheap foreign imports.
Stopping the production line has not resolved the crisis and personnel cuts are needed, said Vilchik. "The main cuts will affect management, workers and auxiliary staff," he said.
He declined to give the number of layoffs, but AvtoVAZ sources said that between 2 percent and 10 percent of the workforce would be cut. AvtoVAZ employs some 121,000 people, including its branches and representative offices, according to the company's second-quarter report.
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov this summer signed a development program for the domestic auto industry that has boosted import tariffs on foreign cars older than seven years, but AvtoVAZ has raised prices.
By mid-October, the company said that it had a backlog of 77,000 unsold cars. Management halted production from Oct. 26 to Nov. 9 to avoid flooding the market.
AvtoVAZ began preparing to shut down production lines permanently, prompting talk of the layoffs, said a source close to the company, who added that the production line was restarted, with management deciding to cancel shifts.
No final decision regarding the layoffs has been decided, the source said.
"The personnel department says that 2 percent to 3 percent of staff will be made redundant, while management puts the figure at 10 percent," the source said, adding that "there is no program to find employment for fired workers."
A source close to management, however, said that fired AvtoVAZ workers would be transferred to an industrial park where they would produce car parts for the main plant in Tolyatti.
The source said that workers with nothing to do make up between 4 percent and 10 percent of staff, mostly engineers and technical workers, and that management has long been planning to trim down the workforce.
"Due to a possible social crisis, it was difficult to make the decision to fire people, but management may use the present crisis to realize the plan," the source said.
Maxim Matveyev, an analyst at Alfa Bank, said that the crisis has indeed worsened the problem of overemployment. "Wages account for 8 percent of production costs, and the factory needs to optimize its overhead," he said. "The present crisis is stimulating the process of cutting costs."
Gorky Auto Plant, or GAZ, and Ulyanovsk Auto Plant, or UAZ, the country's second and third-largest carmakers, respectively, are not planning job cuts, spokespeople at the companies said.
Base Element, which owns GAZ, cut personnel last year from 100,000 to 80,000. UAZ announced this year that it would increase staff by 5,000 to 30,000.
Former general director Eduard Shpakovsky had planned layoffs earlier this year, but the proposal was rejected by shareholders, a source close to UAZ said.
TITLE: Exposing the Flaws of U.S.'s Chechnya Policy
AUTHOR: By Ivan Rybkin
TEXT: IT was a sad irony last week that the news of the hostage crisis in Moscow reached me while I was in the United States speaking about Chechnya. My meetings in Washington, alas, convinced me that the U.S. has yet to grasp the essence of the Chechnya conflict. The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush continues to pursue a policy that is not conducive to a peaceful resolution.
After Sept. 11, Russia's campaign against Chechen separatists acquired an international flavor - Washington and Moscow agreed to call it a part of the global war against terror. But the agreement didn't play out the way it should have. Instead of forging a new common purpose, Russian cooperation with the United States on the global scene gave a boost to Russia's own ill-conceived and failed Chechnya policy.
The dissonance is striking. The undeclared war in Chechnya has long since lost the support of the majority of the Russian people - 60 percent favor immediate cease-fire and negotiations with the rebels. (In an odd twist, the terrorists who took hostages in Moscow demanded what the majority of Russians have wanted all along - to end the war.) But President Vladimir Putin has ignored this widespread yearning for peace. Participation in the American-led coalition against terror gave his administration breathing room - it can and does insist that its domestic battle with the Chechens represents a campaign against the same evil that terrorized the world on Sept. 11, 2001.
Russia claims it now has the world's support for that effort, but that's hardly the case. The sole cause for continuing the carnage is the fear of admitting a political fiasco. The current appearance of foreign support is a trade-off; should Russia contradict the U.S. on Iraq, it would face a storm of criticism on Chechnya. But the truth is that the Chechnya conflict has very little to do with the al-Qaida brand of pan-Islamism. The war has local origins, rooted in the history of the Russian Empire and the memories of deportation by Stalin during World War II. The Chechen conflict is similar to the problems of the Basques in Spain or Republicans in Northern Ireland. But rather than see through its thin resemblance to the recent terrorism of jihadis, the U.S. has played along, even encouraging the Russian government in its stubborn insistence that Chechnya is another Afghanistan, and that President Aslan Maskhadov is Russia's Osama bin Laden.
This sort of false diagnosis, predictably enough, brings wrong treatment. When the root causes are not addressed, the condition deteriorates. Consider what happened within the past year, beginning with the last official contact with the rebels and ending with the hostage disaster in Moscow.
In November 2001, the Chechen envoy Akhmed Zakayev held talks in Moscow with Putin's representative, General Viktor Kazantsev. At the time, moderate Chechens were resisting pressure from extremists. Zakayev made an unprecedented offer to Moscow: he agreed to the status of wide autonomy for Chechnya and suggested the introduction of direct Moscow rule there for the interim period. It should have seemed like an obvious choice - and one that would benefit a large number in both areas. But the government was not responsive, insisting on unconditional capitulation of the rebels. Those who made this decision bear heavy responsibility for the hostage tragedy last week.
Six months after the original breakdown of these talks, I made an attempt to revive the peace process. I wrote an open letter to Putin and met with Zakayev in Zurich. The Chechens reconfirmed their willingness to return to the state of negotiations of late 1997 when we were about to reach an agreement acceptable to all sides. But the president ignored our suggestions, as well as the call of Yevgeny Primakov, the former prime minister, to stop fooling ourselves and the rest of the world about Chechnya.
At the time, the Chechen government was pleading with the U.S. to use its influence to convince its newly acquired ally to accept negotiations. But Maskhadov's envoys met a cool reception in Washington. No one wanted to irritate Moscow. So, after being rejected both in Moscow and in Washington, Maskhadov was left to face his own extremists and deal with the ever-increasing pressure of federal troops. He lost the argument with his militant opponent, Shamil Basayev, that peace with Russia is possible. I trust Akhmed Zakayev when he says that Maskhadov can no longer restrain the extremists - who may indeed have some al-Qaida links. The blame for that lies not so much with Maskahdov as with Moscow, which persists in its wrongful diagnosis endorsed by the U.S.
In spite of last week's horror, it is still possible to return to the negotiating table - as long as Maskhadov has not left the scene to give way to a new generation of Chechen leaders brought up enduring Russia's misguided policies. We saw their face last week in Moscow. If we lose this last chance, we should expect war, and terror, for many decades.
In addition to finding a political formula for the Chechen republic, any peace settlement will have to restrain calls for justice and revenge on both sides, however hard this may sound after last week's carnage. We will have to grant amnesty to all perpetrators of crimes associated with the Chechnya conflict. And accept that in our lifetime we will not learn who was behind the explosions of apartment houses in Moscow in September 1999, the still-unsolved crime that served as the initial casus belli.
But for peace to be given another chance we need one more thing to happen: Our American friends must stop encouraging the party of war in Moscow and in Chechnya, and de-link - in word and in deed - the Chechen issue from Russia's participation in the noble fight against international terrorism.
Ivan Rybkin is a former speaker of the State Duma and Secretary of the Security Council from 1996 to 1998. He contributed this comment to Tuesday's edition of The Wall Street Journal.
TITLE: Moscow Crisis May Be Over, But Hostages Still Remain
TEXT: ON SATURDAY morning, the media delivered some relieving news: the hostage-taking drama in Moscow had ended and the hostages had been released. Despite the seemingly good news, uneasiness remained.
Over a hundred people died and hundreds remain in hospitals as a result of a conscious decision by the Russian government. The government explains that it made the decision driven by the benign intention to avoid an even greater number of casualties. The sad irony is that, while there has always been the fear that some terror group could use biological or chemical weapons in a desperate attempt to achieve their goals, here, the government of a state that is not generally labelled as "rogue" and claims to be committed to the idea of democracy, has itself used chemical poisoning to achieve its political objectives.
It seems clear that the Russian authorities were less concerned with the question of avoiding casualties in this situation than with that of avoiding political risks. Pumping an anaesthetic gas into the building lessened the chance that the terrorists would blow it up, but was the government worried about the loss of life that would be involved or the damage to its credibility that would be caused by such an event in the very center of the capital - especially after that same government had already declared victory in the war in Chechnya? To have opened talks would have meant not only bowing to terrorist pressure, but also admitting publicly that there is no military solution to the Chechnya crisis and that previous efforts to control Chechnya by force have been a waste of time and resources. President Vladimir Putin came to power and has since capitalized politically on the military suppression of the rebellious region, so he could not accept this option. The death toll likely from the decided operation was obviously considered more acceptable than the political stakes of other options.
Russia claims not to be a dictatorship, yet Russian people continue to give their lives for political causes in which they have no say. Because the chances of a negotiated solution to Chechnya are now even lower, the death toll resulting from the storming of the theater will be significantly higher, with each month of war in Chechnya claiming the lives of more than a hundred soldiers, civilians and guerrillas.
While Russia's relatively new political institutions are built according to the standards of Western democracies, the content, unfortunately, has been shown again to remain unchanged. If the government was truly looking to minimize the casualties in Moscow, it would have shared all of the necessary information with the medical services about the agent used in the theater in order to facilitate treatment. Instead, the president and law-enforcement agencies demonstrated the secretive instincts so familiar to us from Soviet times.
These instincts continue to deprive the Russian people of vital information of public concern. The government quickly dismissed a Union of Right Forces proposal for a parliamentary commission to look into the affair. The problem here is that accountability and transparency are not just positive because they are values associated with liberal democracy, but they are also tested means of providing for more efficient, responsible governance. It is unlikely that we will be able to break the vicious circle of Russian backwardness until those in power realize their pragmatic interest in these values.
It's likely that Putin consulted with some Western leaders in the days before the move on the Moscow theater, and he has been praised internationally for the action and for the alleged success in a counter-terrorist operation. Both Washington and London want Russian support for a UN resolution on Iraq and further Russian engagement in the war against terror. From their perspective, most of the dead would be Russians, so it was up to Putin to decide the acceptable level of collateral damage. Moscow seems to have misinterpreted the gesture. Even further, presenting Denmark with an ultimatum after that country allowed a Chechen congress to be held in Copenhagen isn't likely to contribute to improving relations with the European Union. Europe has shown deep sympathy for Moscow in light of the recent events, but it can not appreciate its stubborn unwillingness to resolve the problem other than by military means - especially when those means show themselves clearly not to be up to the task.
Putin describes his political ideal for Russia as "managed democracy." But the drama of the "Nord-Ost" situation took place when most elements of that system are already in place, with the problems that hinder the country's development remaining untackled. High-tech media management and PR approaches help ensure election results, but they can't solve the real issues. We are all hostages of the Chechnya crisis just as we are hostages of inefficient governance, a crippled economy and a poisoned ecology. The Chechnya problem is an acute example: Like any war, it kills people directly and immediately.
It would be great if the Russian establishment could learn the lessons that would pave the way to release all of us as hostages, but it seems highly unlikely that it will.
Igor Leshukov is the director of the Institute of International Affairs, St. Petersburg, a private think tank. He contributed this comment to The St. Petersburg Times.
TITLE: making 'sufferings' successful
AUTHOR: by Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: They adapt inviolable classical jewels like Chopin's nocturnes and Schubert's "Ave Maria" for a quartet of Russian folk instruments. They mix J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor with Russian folk tunes. They make their audiences' jaws drop - and the applause from the stunned audience is deafening.
"They," of course, are the Terem Quartet, and now they have another ace up their collective sleeve. The group's new CD, "Russkiye Stradaniya," ("Russian Sufferings"), named for one of its most popular pieces, was released this week on local label Bomba Piter.
The philosophy behind the title - and behind virtually the whole disc - is simple enough. Stradaniya means "sufferings" in Russian, and the Russian folk tunes that the quartet uses on the CD are signposts to historical Russian sufferers.
"Dostoyevsky wrote about these people. ... They seek the truth, and every one of them has a dramatic background" says Terem's Andrei Konstantinov, who plays the domra, a mandolin-like instrument. "Some of them are happy, some sad, and some desperate - but all of them seek universal happiness."
As for the Bach toccata, it wouldn't have appeared on the disc at all, were it not for baritone Vladimir Chernov, with whom the group recorded in Austria.
"We were just joking and fooling around," recalls Andrei Smirnov, the group's bayan - the Russian accordion - player. "One of us wondered if Bach, or someone from his family, had ever been to Russia, and then we started fantasizing about what would have happened if Bach had discovered Russian folk tunes. The result is on the disc."
Today, the Terem Quartet's lineup is different from when the group made its debut, on Nov. 26, 1986. In 2000, alto domra player Igor Ponomarenko left to establish his own quartet, Magrigal. Konstantinov, Smirnov and bass balalaika player Nikolai Dzyudze found a replacement - St. Petersburg Academy of Culture graduate Alexei Barshchev, who is now fully used to his new surroundings.
The group has been performing for more than 15 years, but its music has still not been properly classified. The usual descriptions - "world music," "fusion," "postmodernism" - are all fair enough, but do not entirely ring true. The four are happy with the description coined by composer Alexander Chaikovsky, who called it "instrumental theater."
The musicians' performing style has always been interactive, to involve the audience as much as possible: They strut the stage, puff out their cheeks, wink at the audience, snap their fingers, jump and twist - and it always works.
Throughout the quartet's 15-year history, the group has traveled widely, and has performed for the Pope, Mother Theresa and Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
"We keep visiting new places - this year, we discovered Poland and French-speaking Canada," says Konstantinov.
On its travels, the group has even turned disasters into triumphs. For example, several years ago, they arrived in South Africa to find Dzyudze's bass balalaika in pieces. By an extraordinary coincidence, Dzyudze found a person who had a balalaika repair kit with him, and was able to patch the instrument.
Remarkably, the indefatigable quartet have even begun to get their local counterparts involved in the group's extensive tour schedule.
"[Other groups] do not travel around Russia enough," says Konstantinov. "We have been everywhere, from Murmansk to Vladivostok. We thought it would be a nice idea to create a sort of 'Terem Festival' - a series of tours around the country with fellow musicians and artists."
The festival, which has already started in Lipetsk, near Moscow, is slated to last almost a whole year, culminating next year with a grandiose event in St. Petersburg.
The Terem Quartet has recently been reaching out particularly far - although not in geographical terms. The restless "truth seekers" have made quite a few appearances in maternity wards, playing to pregnant women. The performances were sponsored by no less an authority than Russia's Health Ministry, which expressed interest in studying the effects of music on pregnancy and embryo development. As the group played, the mothers-to-be made notes describing their emotions. After studying the notes, the doctors then gave the musicians recommendations for further work.
Non-initiates should head to the Shostakovich Philharmonic on Nov. 26 to find out more.
Links: www.terem-quartet.com
TITLE: kirpichi: another brick in the wall
AUTHOR: by Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Kirpichi, a leading local club band that combines hip-hop and hard-edged guitar rock, showcases its new album on Sunday at the biggest venue it has played to date - the 3,000-capacity Malaya Arena at the Yubileiny Sports Palace.
The 13-track album, "Sila Uma," or "Mind Power," released last month on Moscow's Gala Records, is Kirpichi's fourth. It comes a full two years after the band's third album, "KapitaliZm OO," which was released in October 2000, but, according to singer/guitarist Vasily Vasin, a.k.a. Vasya V., it was actually finished as early as February.
The recording sessions took place at Vasin's home and that of the band's second mainstay, bassist Danila Smirnov, a.k.a. Danny Boy, and lasted six months.
"Then we had to wait for another six months - but it depended on the Moscow label, rather than on us," says Vasin. "That's supposedly normal, but I don't like it. It should have been released before summer - it would have been fresh and hot then. But it's not bad now, either."
Vasin claims that, since the album was recorded, Kirpichi - whose name means "Bricks" - has written enough material for another album.
Despite expectations, and Vasin's early comments, "Sila Uma" turned out to be mainly a hip-hop album.
"It's two thirds hip-hop," says Vasin. "Because, once we did it at home, using samples everywhere, it came out as hip-hop. It's rock in spirit, of course."
Vasin attributes the album's title to the fact that Kirpichi does everything on its own, without any outside interference.
"We did everything ourselves, using our own 'mind power' - not letting anyone come close, so to speak," he says.
According to Vasin, most of the work was done by Smirnov and him, with the band's drummer, Vadik "Nose" Latyshev, adding beats. Kirpichi's manager, Boris "Black Bob" Shestakov, contributed back-up vocals to a couple of tracks, "as a joke."
"We did the whole record ourselves," says Vasin. "We make videos ourselves, design record covers. The only thing is that it's released in Moscow, because we have quite a strict contract."
Kirpichi's third album, 2000's "KapitaliZm OO," was an ironic study of Russian capitalism, but, according to Vasin, the new album is even more political.
"It's more anti-bourgeois than 'KapitaliZm' and even 'Smert Na Reive' [1999's 'Death at a Rave,' the band's second album]," says Vasin.
"Roughly speaking, it's against the bourgeois way of life," he says. "We don't think we are Communists, but certain things were just in the air and suddenly came out on the record all by themselves. A political position emerged."
Although the track "Jedi" has already become a national radio hit, Vasin claims it was a surprise for the band - and even for its record company.
"[Mikhail] Kozyrev played 'Jedi' on Nashe Radio, and it made No. 3 [in the charts]. Now, we're doing a video for the song, but we never thought it would be a hit," says Vasin.
"We did not adapt the record to any format," he says. "We tried our hardest not to make any concessions. The words 'hit,' 'chart' and 'format' were banned."
As always with Kirpichi, at least one of the album's tracks has already caused a controversy. "I don't give a damn if you're a sir or a peer, get the f**k out of here, motherf**cker," raps Smirnov on a track called "Inostr" (an abbreviation of "Inostrantsy," or "Foreigners").
"It's kind of a joke," explains Vasin, who writes the band's lyrics. "The song describes a typical - redneck - view of foreigners. I was even accused in some review that it smells of fascism. It's all nonsense - what kind of fascist am I?"
"Every joke has an element of truth, of course," he says. "Foreigners look very naive in [Russia] at times. It's not a reason for aggression, but a reason to have pity on them."
In a song called "Shkolnichki" ("Little Schoolboys"), Vasin, 29, addresses the younger generation of fans.
"It's for kids who are 10 years younger than me - the age when I was starting to play rock," says Vasin. "But, of course, I don't think I'm an adult."
Vasin admits that the album turned out to be youth-oriented, but says that this was not deliberate.
"Nobody calculated the target audience, of course," he says. "But the next album will be well thought-out, and very adult. It will be strictly rock, 12 songs, everything much more solid. 'Sila Uma' is kind of a continuation of kindergarten."
Kirpichi plans to start its Sunday concert by playing the whole album - bar one track - live. The band will appear as a four-piece, with a recently added guitarist, Ivan Lyudevik, known on the local scene for playing with heavy, alternative-rock bands such as Scang and Steroid 50333.
Kirpichi plays at Yubileiny Sports Palace's Malaya Arena at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Links: www.kirpichi.ru
TITLE: chernov's choice
TEXT: Hot on the heels of its concert at the upscale Astoria nightclub, popular ska-punk band Leningrad is set to appear in an even more bizarre affair - "Fight Club."
The new nightclub show takes its cues from "Music Ring," the now-defunct Soviet-era television show, in which two bands "competed" and the audience chose a "winner." Leningrad goes head to head with annoying pop boyband Otpetiye Moshenniki.
"I don't know what it's about," says Leningrad frontman Sergei Shnurov. "It's promoted by a friend. As usual, I agreed to take part, as a friend."
"Fight Club" will take place on Tuesday at Bada Boom. (See Gigs for location details.) Tickets cost from 500 to 1,000 rubles ($15.80 to $31.55).
Shnurov, meanwhile, liked the Astoria concert, which he said attracted a flashy audience "from deputies to bandits - which is the same thing really, so it was all bandits."
"The main thing is that the concert went well," he says. "I started by saying, 'Hey, bourgeois, let's make some noise!' It was fun."
Leningrad's ever-changing official Web site now contains nothing except the notice "No News," which leads to a typically insipid forum. "I closed it - I simply got sick of it," says Shnurov.
However, there is some news, as Leningrad will play Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on Saturday. Later in the month, the group heads off on a four-date U.S. tour, where it will play Baltimore, (Nov. 15), Boston (Nov. 16), New York (Nov. 17) and Chicago (Nov. 21).
(Incidentally, ska-punkers Spitfire - now an integral part of Leningrad - will continue the tour on its own, playing another dozen-odd shows. Check www.spitfire.spb.ru for more details.)
Meanwhile, Leningrad songs have recently appeared in radio and television advertiesments. Predictably, "WWW" was used by a computer shop, while "Diky Muzhchina" ("Wild Man") appeared, rather pervertedly, in an ad for women's hygiene products.
"There's a lot of different proposals," says Shnurov. "I don't look into them deeply. I say something quickly, and that's it."
Big international concerts this week are limited to Alice Cooper, who plays the Ice Palace on Wednesday. He will be supported by L.A. Guns, the band led by guitarist Tracii Guns, of Guns N' Roses fame.
Moscow's New Russian pop/rock-oriented Nashe Radio is sending its henchmen north. Bi-2 and Chicherina (you know the latter's frontwoman from your Pepsi bottle tops) perform at the Ice Palace on Saturday, and - in typical New Russian pop/rock style - will collect some extras at the casino-cum-nightclub Papanin the same night.
Better options are gigs by Tres Muchachos, Markscheider Kunst and, of course, Kirpichi (see article, this page).
- by Sergey Chernov
TITLE: spice up your life (maybe)
AUTHOR: by Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: "Here? Are you sure?"
My companion was staring at the yellow-greenish, acidic-looking windows of Imbir, a new cafe on Zagorodny Prospect. She was obviously taken aback by the color and froze near the entrance, perplexed. To resolve the situation, I opened the door, reminding her that we were there, first and foremost, for the food. She followed me in.
The interior of the cafe is done up in a rather eclectic style that comprises a juxtaposition of Dutch tiling covering the walls and sophisticated, carved wooden cupboards.
"I know fusion is popular now, but shouldn't it at least make a bit of sense," my companion wondered, visibly annoyed by the interior. By this time, however, we had already sat down, and it was time to peruse the menu.
I have long been trying to get out of the habit of anticipating events. Your thoughts turn toward something, you dream, you fantasize ... and then reality bites and, so often, it is so annoying, so wrong, so disappointing. Anyway, Imbir means "ginger" - as in the spice, not the hair color - so both of us had expected to encounter dishes such as, say, a honey and ginger pork roast, a ginger chutney or, at the very least, a ginger curry, which I still think would be fair enough. There might even have been a steak, basted with garlic and ginger, waiting for us. Come to that, a sesame and ginger beef wrap sounds good as well. Alas, though, the menu appeared to be almost as eclectic as the interior, and its underlying principles just as difficult to guess. Japanese and Georgian dishes dominate the list - which is none to extensive - but there are some Russian and Chinese dishes as well.
It was rather cold outside, so I couldn't help ordering a glass of mulled wine (110 rubles, $3.50), which did a good job of warming me up, especially given the impressive quantities of cinnamon that it contained. (The amount of cinnamon, in fact, made me wonder if the owners of Imbir had not chosen the wrong spice after which to name their establishment.) My friend had a glass of delicious plum wine (195 rubles, $6.20).
As for ginger drinks, Imbir offers non-alcoholic ginger ale (25 rubles $0.80) and ginger liqueur (50 rubles, $1.60). The ale isn't homemade and comes in bottles (and is produced by Coca-Cola St. Petersburg Bottlers, if you are interested).
I ordered the Imbir salad (150 rubles, $4.75), which was a mixture of warm chicken slices, shrimps, fresh and pickled cucumbers, salad leaves, potatoes, boiled quail eggs, mayonnaise - and ginger. My friend's satsivi (75 rubles, $2.35) was declared to be good, but perhaps a bit too mild.
None of the soups seemed to contain ginger, so we shared a portion of Lappish Fish Soup (60 rubles, $1.90). Both of us found the dish delicious, very filling and substantial.
I ordered pike-perch filet stuffed with spinach (140 rubles, $4.40) as a main course. I knew the dish would hardly contain any ginger but, by this time, I had given up any hope of munching a sophisticated ginger-based dish. The tender fillet was difficult to fault, although it happened to contain a few little bones.
My dining companion went for teriyaki chicken (also 140 rubles) which she said was delicately cooked. If a slice of ginger served with teriyaki chicken or salmon is meant to explain the cafe's name, then ginger lovers would be better off heading straight for the nearest sushi bar. Then again, maybe we were just naive or, rather, too literally minded about the ginger idea.
In Russian cuisine, ginger is used to bake gingerbread and pastries, but Imbir's menu doesn't list anything of the sort. One dessert does have the word ginger in its title - hooray! - and, therefore, was our obvious choice. The poppy and ginger parfait (90 rubles, $2.85) was actually a delicious ice-cream, served with raspberry and cherry jam.
All in all, Imbir is a nice place to eat, the food is decent and the service prompt. Just be sure to avoid looking at the acidic windows, and don't expect much diversity in terms of ginger.
Imbir. 15 Zagorodny Pr. Tel.: 113-3215. Open daily, noon until the last visitor leaves. Russian menu only. Major credit cards accepted. Lunch for two, with alcohol: 1,090 rubles ($34.50).
TITLE: Israeli Coalition Government Falls Apart
AUTHOR: By Dan Perry
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's broad-based coalition collapsed Wednesday, when cabinet ministers from the moderate Labor Party resigned in a dispute over funding for Jewish settlements, threatening to push Israel into a bitter election.
The crisis ended an uneasy 20-month "unity government" formed as a common front against the Palestinian uprising, and could sabotage U.S. efforts to win support for a peace plan.
Sharon told parliament that he would continue to lead the country, suggesting that he would try to govern with a narrow coalition of far-right and religious parties, rather than call early elections.
The crisis was precipitated by Sharon's rejection of Labor Party leader Binyamin Ben Eliezer's demands to cut $145 million in funds for Jewish settlements in the $57 billion 2003 state budget. Compromise proposals failed and Ben Eliezer resigned from his post as defense minister, followed by the rest of Labor's Cabinet ministers.
Under Israeli law, the six resignations will only take effect after 48 hours, leaving room for last-ditch maneuvers - but politicians from both sides predicted that Sharon's broad-based coalition was at an end.
"We must fight terror, but this is the day when we have to present a diplomatic horizon," Ben Eliezer said, referring to peace talks with the Palestinians. "The prime minister is unable to present a diplomatic horizon."
Critics accused Ben Eliezer of partisan politics, noting that, in polls, ahead of Labor's Nov. 19 leadership primary, he trails two more dovish challengers, and leaving the government over a settlement dispute could boost his standing.
"It's the height of irresponsibility," said Education Minister Limor Livnat of Sharon's Likud Party.
Writing in Thursday's Haaretz daily, columnist Yoel Marcus said that the sudden end of the uneasy partnership "was a matter of party politics. Ego versus ego." Marcus wrote that Sharon would pay the biggest price for the exit of the moderate Labor Party, because "Labor's presence in the government inspired confidence in Sharon's promise of being ready for painful concessions."
The budget was put to parliament after the Labor ministers resigned, and it passed with the support of parties outside the coalition - as expected - by a 67-45 vote. It must pass two more readings in coming weeks before it is final.
Several officials involved in the last-minute talks said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who led Labor for much of the past two decades and has been a key supporter of the unity government, tried to persuade Ben Eliezer to back down. Peres then resigned along with Ben Eliezer and four other Labor Party ministers.
If the resignations go through, Sharon will face the difficult choice of trying to stay afloat with the support of an array of extreme-right and religious parties - meaning political instability and constant pressures for even tougher, internationally unpopular policies concerning the Palestinians.
Sharon aides have said that he is more likely to call elections within 90 days, but the prime minister suggested otherwise in his speech to parliament. "We will continue to lead the country in a responsible and clear-headed way," he said.
Although polls show that the bloc of parties led by Sharon's Likud would probably win a majority of the 120 seats, there is no guarantee and Sharon himself would probably first have to beat back a challenge for the Likud leadership by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Either way, the developments bode ill for U.S. efforts to win support for a three-phase peace plan envisioning a provisional Palestinian state by 2003. Elections would mean a delay of many months, and Sharon's far-right partners in a narrow coalition would likely object to many of the provisions, such as a settlement freeze and a significant Israeli troop pullback.
Palestinian reaction was mixed, with cabinet minister Saeb Erekat calling the crisis "an internal Israeli matter." But Erekat also warned that "if there is a new coalition between the Likud and the right wing in Israel, it will also be at the expense of the Palestinian people and against the peace process."
TITLE: IRA Leaves Talks on Scrapping Weapons
AUTHOR: By Shawn Pogatchnik
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: DUBLIN, Ireland - The Irish Republican Army announced Wednesday that it has broken off negotiations with an independent disarmament commission in another backward step for Northern Ireland peacemaking.
The IRA's decision to stop its slow-moving talks on scrapping weapons - a key goal of Northern Ireland's 4-year-old peace accord - followed widespread calls for the outlawed group to disband.
In a statement to the weekly Sinn Fein-IRA newspaper Republican News, IRA commanders said that they were suspending negotiations because of what they called "an effort to impose unacceptable and untenable ultimatums on the IRA."
Britain and police chiefs called the move regrettable but predictable, while Protestant leaders said that the IRA's determination to cling to its weaponry demonstrated why they should not be expected to cooperate with the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party.
John de Chastelain, the retired Canadian general who leads the disarmament commission alongside Americans and Finns, said that he was disappointed, too. "We just hope this suspension lasts as short a time as possible," he said.
The IRA blamed both Britain and Protestant leaders for fueling the crisis besetting the peace agreement, which proposed a joint Catholic-Protestant administration for Northern Ireland and the gradual disarmament of outlawed groups.
The IRA, which has largely observed a cease-fire since 1997, said it "remains committed to the search for a just and lasting peace."
Britain stripped authority from the power-sharing administration on Oct. 14, keeping it intact for a potential revival, after Protestants demanded Sinn Fein's expulsion over mounting allegations of continued IRA activity. Britain urged the IRA to cease all hostile activities and continue disarmament in order to restore Protestant confidence.
Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, the Protestant head of the suspended administration, said Wednesday that the latest IRA move vindicated his decision to halt cooperation with Sinn Fein. He accused IRA and Sinn Fein leaders of lying repeatedly about their true intentions.
"It has been obvious for months that the IRA has not been making progress on [weapons] decommissioning," Trimble said. "They're in a hole, they're digging deeper, and sooner or later they're going to have to start to get back out of this hole."
Efforts to get the IRA to scrap its many tons of stockpiled weapons have bedeviled wider peacemaking efforts for nearly a decade.
The Good Friday peace accord of 1998 envisioned the IRA's total disarmament by mid-2000. Protestant leaders agreed to include Sinn Fein in the four-party administration, formed in late 1999, on condition that IRA disarmament commenced in response.
Politicians in the Republic of Ireland - where police say the IRA has hidden most of its Libyan-supplied weaponry - condemned the latest IRA move. Pat Rabbitte, leader of the opposition Labor Party, called it "an extraordinarily retrograde step."
TITLE: UN Members Oppose Precipitate Action Against Hussein
AUTHOR: By Edith Lederer
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: UNITED NATIONS - The U.S. demand for speedy UN action on Iraq has run into strong opposition from Russia, France and China, which want Washington to change a draft resolution and eliminate any license for the United States to attack Baghdad on its own.
The three veto-holding Security Council members want to ensure that Iraq is given a chance to cooperate with UN weapons inspectors before any military action is authorized - and they're now waiting to see what the United States and Britain are going to do to address their concerns.
After a third council session Wednesday on the U.S. proposal, Russia's deputy UN ambassador Gennady Gatilov said that Moscow still has "quite a number of problems" with the U.S. draft, centered on the automatic authorization to use force.
The opposition has stymied U.S. President George W. Bush's administration's hopes to quickly push a resolution through the world body. In Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that debate would likely be concluded toward the end of next week.
The Security Council only received the U.S. draft on Oct. 23. The three sessions since then gave all 15 members the opportunity to go over it line by line and suggest changes.
U.S. and British diplomats said that the views of the council will now be studied carefully, ministers will continue talking, and there will be a response - but when it will come and whether it will meet Russian, French and Chinese demands remains to be seen.
"Don't expect any immediate action," said Britain's UN Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock. "There is going to be no precipitate rush to a conclusion."
China's Ambassador Wang Yingfan said that he expected the United States and Britain to come back with revisions.
"I don't know what kind of progress, in the end, we'll have," he said.
France's UN Ambassador Jean-David Levitte said that everyone knows Paris' position, but "frankly, we don't know where the U.S. is" now on the issue of authorizing force.
The U.S. and British consultations on possible changes to the U.S. draft, coupled with Friday's handover of the Security Council presidency from Cameroon to China and next Tuesday's U.S. election, have pushed back Bush's timetable for a UN vote.
On Wednesday, Powell stressed that Washington would not accept a resolution that limited U.S. freedom of action on Iraq.
"There is nothing that we would propose in this resolution or we would find acceptable in a resolution that would handcuff the president of the United States in doing what he feels he must do," Powell said, reiterating the administration's view that the U.S. Congress has already given its authorization for U.S. action against Iraq.
But the administration also wants the United Nations to support a resolution that strengthens inspections, warns Iraq of "serious consequences" if it fails to cooperate, and declares that Iraq is still in "material breach" of its obligations to get rid of its nuclear, chemical and biological-weapons programs.
In an effort to win support, Washington signaled a readiness this week to make some minor concessions involving a new weapons-inspection regime. These were welcomed, but the United States has yet to find a solution to the critical issue of the automatic use of force.
Russia's UN ambassador, Sergey Lavrov, said Tuesday that it isn't the words "material breach" or "serious consequences" that's at issue, but their context and the meaning it implies.
In the case of the U.S. draft, Gatilov said Wednesday that Russia still has concerns that references to "material breach" could trigger an attack on Iraq.
He stressed that any assurances from the United States and Britain that this is not the case must be in the draft resolution. Diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Washington could be willing to offer such assurances privately.
TITLE: Mass WWII Grave Found in Belarus
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MINSK, Belarus - Authorities discovered a mass grave on a military base with the remains of up to 12,000 people killed during World War II, defense officials said Wednesday.
The grave is in the town of Slutsk, nearly 100 kilometers south of the Belarus capital of Minsk, said Leonid Zakharenko, press secretary for the defense ministry.
Residents who discovered the grave told officials that Nazi troops executed and buried Jews from Slutsk and prisoners from a nearby concentration camp at the site from 1942 to 1944.
Authorities suspect that some of the victims were Roman Catholics from Poland and Belarus, Zakharenko said.
"Searchers found the remains of people of different nationalities and ages, including children," Zakharenko said.
So far, authorities have recovered the remains of about 50 people but a full excavation of the site is not planned until the spring.
Belarus was home to a substantial Jewish minority before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
TITLE: After the Hype, Yao's Debut Disappoints
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - From the moment Yao Ming stepped on the court for the morning shootaround to the postgame news conference, all eyes were on the 7-foot-6 (228-centimeter) Chinese rookie.
The results were a little less than expected.
Yao played more like an average backup center than the No. 1 overall pick in the draft Wednesday night against Indiana, making little impact in his regular-season debut for Houston as the Pacers held off the Rockets 91-82.
Yao failed to score, had two rebounds, was called for three fouls and had two rebounds in 11 minutes. He said he started thinking about an NBA career two or three years ago but certainly he envisioned a better start than this.
"Sometimes it was like I was in a dream," Yao said through an interpreter.
Yao had shown a soft touch with his jump shot during the preseason, but was bowled over by body checks and often got into foul trouble. He had few chances against the Pacers to shoot his jumper and was a non-factor defensively.
"I learned that I still have a lot to learn, and I'm just a rookie," Yao said. "It's a very long road and it's difficult."
He didn't play in the first quarter, then shed perhaps the largest warmup jersey ever made for the Rockets to start the second, receiving mild applause from the Conseco Fieldhouse crowd. He promptly turned the ball over the first time he touched it when Jeff Foster stripped him. Yao missed his only shot, a turnaround 4-meter attempt over Foster in the fourth.
"My main concern was to push him off the block and to keep the defensive pressure on him," Foster said. "There wasn't particularly any strategy we discussed but, being the No. 1 pick, everyone wanted to challenge him to see what he had."
Jermaine O'Neal scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds, and Ron Artest added 20 points for Indiana, which overcame a career-high 39 points from Houston's Steve Francis.
Cuttino Mobley added 22 points, but no other Houston player reached double figures.
Portland 102, L.A. Lakers 90. The three-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers have a 0-2 record - 29th best among the 29 NBA teams.
Losing for the second time in as many nights, the Lakers got a scare Wednesday when Kobe Bryant took a hard fall in the first half and sat out for several minutes. Bryant returned and scored 25 points, but Los Angeles lost at Portland.
Of the five teams that have already played two games, the Lakers are the only one with a 0-2 record.
The Blazers took advantage of Bryant's brief absence, turning a three-point deficit into a 17-point lead. The Trail Blazers built their lead as high as 23 when Rasheed Wallace put the Blazers up 77-54 with a 3-pointer late in the third quarter.
This is the first time since 1990 the Lakers have opened a season with two losses. Only six teams in NBA history have started the season 0-2 or worse and still won a title.
"It's good for us," Jackson said. "We're going to have to look at that situation [without O'Neal and Rick Fox] for a while and deal with it."
Chicago 99, Boston 96. In Boston, Trenton Hassell scored eight points in the final 3 minutes, including a pair of three-pointers.
Hassell scored 14 and Jalen Rose had 21 points and 12 assists for the Bulls, who won despite poor free-throw shooting from rookie Jay Williams down the stretch.
Toronto 74, Washington 68. In Toronto, Morris Peterson scored 20 points, and Michael Jordan went scoreless in the second half and even missed a dunk.
Jordan scored just eight points in 25 minutes off the bench. After missing two free throws with 4:06 left, he missed a breakaway dunk as the ball clanged off the back rim. The crowd laughed at Jordan, who turns 40 in February, and the Wizards, down by 12, never recovered.
Philadelphia 95, Milwaukee 93. In Philadelphia, Allen Iverson had 28 points, including a go-ahead jumper in the final minute.
Aaron McKie had 18 points, Keith Van Horn added 16 and Todd MacCulloch had 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Ray Allen scored 28 points for Milwaukee, but missed a long jumper and turned the ball over in the final minute.
New Jersey 105, Atlanta 94. In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Jason Kidd had 16 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, taking over in the closing minutes after the Hawks cut a 17-point lead to 96-92.
It was a hectic end to a season opener that saw the Nets raise conference and Atlantic Division championship banners - their first since joining the NBA in 1976.
TITLE: SPORTS WATCH
TEXT: Tribe's New Big Chief
CLEVELAND (AP) - Eric Wedge was officially introduced as Cleveland's manager on Tuesday, making the former minor-league manager the youngest in the majors.
Also Tuesday, the Oakland Athletics promoted bench coach Ken Macha as their next manager and the Milwaukee Brewers hired Ned Yost, a bit player in the Milwaukee Brewers' glory days two decades ago.
"He has all the qualities necessary today to be a successful major league manager," Shapiro said. "Players gravitate to him. He pays attention to detail. He's a great communicator, he is driven to succeed, and has a tireless work ethic. He's a difference maker, and there aren't many managers like that."
"There's been a lot made of my intensity and aggressive nature," said Wedge. "I'm an intense person. If I say something, I mean it. It's not about being a tough guy. It's just following up on what you say."
Indians Make Pitch
CLEVELAND (AP) - The Cleveland Indians were set to begin efforts to re-sign Jim Thome on Thursday, when they met with the team's career home-run leader and his agent at Jacobs Field.
The Indians plan to make their first contract offer for Thome, who hit a club record 52 homers last season and is the most coveted slugger in this winter's free agent market. They're hoping to hit a home run with the proposal.
"Our meeting will be a strong effort to communicate our respect, our admiration and our desire to have Jim Thome remain an Indian," Indians General Manager Mark Shapiro said.
Thome filed for free agency earlier this week, but the Indians are the only team the popular first baseman can talk money with until Nov. 13. After that, he is free to negotiate with all teams.
The Indians are expected to present the 32-year-old with a package that will include incentives based on performance and attendance that would make him the highest-paid player in club history.
Clemens Declines
NEW YORK (AP) - Roger Clemens would rather take the money then start talking about a 2003 contract. The New York Yankees pitcher declined to exercise a $10.3-million player option for 2003, the team said Wednesday. But the option was really an illusion designed to lower the Yankees' payroll figure during the past two seasons because the five-time Cy Young Award winner gets a $10.3-million buyout.
When the deal was agreed, the Yankees wanted Clemens' contract counted as a three-year deal with an average annual value of $10.3 million, rather than a two-year contract worth $15.45 million.
Clemens, 40, is eligible to file for free agency. He went 13-6 with a 4.35 ERA in 29 starts this year and had 192 strikeouts in 180 innings. After the season, he said his preference is to remain with the Yankees.
TITLE: Defeat Tastes Sweet for Madrid, Arsenal
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: LONDON - Title holder Real Madrid and English defending champion Arsenal both lost on Wednesday but still qualified for the second phase of the Champions League.
Roma's Francesco Totti got the only goal after 22 minutes in the Group C match in Madrid, as Real lost at home to Italian opposition for the first time since 1967 but, whatever happens in the final round of matches, it is guaranteed a top-two spot.
Borussia Dortmund sent Arsenal crashing to its fourth successive 2-1 defeat in all competitions in a tense Group A match.
Both teams advanced, however, after nine-player Auxerre, which had to win to keep its chances alive, was thumped 3-0 by PSV Eindhoven. Auxerre's hopes disappeared with red cards for Philippe Mexes in the 26th minute and Olivier Kapo in the 51st.
Valencia completed an impressive double over Liverpool as Francisco Rufete's deflected shot gave them a 1-0 win at Anfield to seal its place as Group B winners.
Group D remains wide open after Inter Milan beat Rosenborg Trondheim 3-0 and Ajax Amsterdam won 2-0 in a controversial game at Olympique Lyon.
On Tuesday, four-time winner Bayern was Munich embarrassingly knocked out in the first group stage after a 2-1 loss at Deportivo la Coruna. Ousted so early for the first time, the German team is rooted in last place in its group with just one point.
AC Milan has already qualified and Deportivo and French defending champion Lens are fighting for second place.
Manchester United lost 3-0 to Maccabi Haifa of Israel, although United already made it to the final 16, and had many big stars sidelined.
Real Madrid seemed ready for another effortless cruise into the second phase when it won its first three matches, starting with a superb 3-0 win at Roma, and was then 2-0 ahead at home against AEK Athens in its fourth.
But it drew 2-2 with the Greeks and, after some mediocre domestic form, was unable to cancel out Totti's early goal at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque said he had mixed feelings about the match and, although disappointed with the defeat, he was pleased that they had still secured their place in the second phase of the competition.
"We can't be satisfied with the result," he said. "But, on the other hand, we have qualified and that is something that Roma has yet to do."
Del Bosque said his team had found it difficult to break down Roma's defense, but was quick to dismiss any suggestions of a crisis at Real, which has managed only one win in its last seven domestic and European games.
"I am not one for excuses, but Raul, Luis Figo and Ronaldo are all playing after time off injured, and we are still waiting for them to find that understanding they will get from playing together."
"We certainly aren't as badly off as our recent results may suggest and any talk of a crisis is a massive exaggeration," he added. "A crisis is what Bayern is facing after being knocked out of European competition."
Arsenal is torn between lamenting a fourth successive 2-1 defeat - after an unbeaten run of 30 matches - and celebrating its progress into the second round. Things started well for the Londoners in Dortmund, when Thierry Henry curled an 18th-minute free kick past Jens Lehmann, but Gilberto Silva deflected a Tomas Rosicky free kick into his own goal to tie the scores.
Rosicky struck Dortmund's winning goal from a penalty kick in the 62nd minute after David Seaman had brought down Czech striker Jan Koller.
Valencia was within seconds of advancing to the second round last week but, after being frustrated by Basel's last-minute equalizer, it made sure at Anfield.
Looking sharp from the start and defensively determined, the losing finalist in 2000 and 2001 handed the Premiership leader its first home defeat in all competitions this season.
Ajax took an eighth-minute lead through South African midfielder Steven Pienaar in Lyon, but the French side thought they had equalized when a Sonny Anderson header was palmed into his own net by goalkeeper Joey Didulica after 43 minutes.
TV replays showed that the ball had crossed the line, but Greek referee Kyros Vassaras ruled otherwise.
Ajax captain Cristian Chivu was sent off midway through the second half, but the Dutch secured the points with a goal by substitute Rafael van der Vaart in injury time.
Alvaro Recoba, Hernan Crespo and an own goal by Janne Saarinen gave Inter a comfortable 3-0 home success that ensured Rosenborg will finish at the bottom of Group D.
On Tuesday, Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen joined already-qualified Barcelona, Manchester United and AC Milan in the second phase.
With AC Milan falling 2-1 at Lens and Manchester United losing to Haifa, Barcelona remained the only perfect team. A second-half goal by Juan Riqu elme lifted Barcelona to a 1-0 win at FC Brugge to give it five straight wins.
The other big-name team to make the second phase was Italian defending champion Juventus, after a 2-0 victory over UEFA Cup holder Feyenoord. Marco di Viao's two goals ensured Juventus a spot in the last 16.
Feyenoord is involved in a three-way battle for second place with Dynamo Kiev and Newcastle. Alan Shear er's winning penalty kick lifted Newcastle over Kiev 2-1.
Manchester United left a host of stars at home and paid for it.
England captain David Beckham and compatriot Nicky Butt, Argentina's Juan Sebastian Veron, Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, Welsh winger Ryan Giggs, French stars Fabien Barthez and Laurent Blanc and Ireland's Roy Keane all watched the game on television rather than journey to Nicosia, Cyprus, where the Maccabi "home" game was played because of security problems in Israel.
With a record 8,000 fans rooting them on, Maccabi outplayed United with goals by Yaniv Katan, Raimondas Zutautas and Ayegbini Ya'akoubu.
Dmitri Loskov and Vadim Yevseyev scored Lokomotiv Moscow's goals in a surprise 2-1 victory at Galatasaray, which hasn't won since its opening game victory over the Russians six weeks ago.
(Reuters, AP)
TITLE: 'Bulin Wall' Stands Firm as Lighting Strikes Once More
AUTHOR: By Ira Podell
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: NEW YORK - Not only is Nikolai Khabibulin giving the Tampa Bay Lightning a chance in every game, he's winning them all, too.
Khabibulin was amazing again Wed nesday night, turning aside all 24 shots he faced in a 3-0 home victory over the New York Rangers. It was his 29th career shutout as the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning reached 16 points.
"There's one he stole," said Tim Taylor, who scored Tampa Bay's first goal. "That's one of those games where Khabby actually steals it from the other team."
Fredrik Modin and Vincent Lecavalier scored late third-period goals to seal the victory for the Lightning, off to its best start ever at 7-1-2.
Khabibulin is even better - he's 7-0-2 and has a 10-game unbeaten streak (8-0-2), dating back to last season. This was Khabibulin's first shutout in 34 games. His last was a 1-0 effort over the Rangers on Jan. 28.
"We talked between the second and third and we said we're lucky," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "When your goalie stands on his head like he did, you need to step up."
The only loss for the Lightning this season came when Khabibulin took the night off and gave way to backup Kevin Hodson.
"Their goaltender had a good game," Rangers coach Bryan Trottier said. "We threw a lot of rubber at him."
Mike Richter faced 21 shots, and fell to 11-11-1 against Tampa Bay. The Lightning also beat the Rangers 4-2 in New York on Oct. 21.
In the second period, Khabibulin made a post-to-post save on Pavel Bure from the low right circle and caught a break when Jamie Lundmark's shot hit the post.
"Between the second and third, we came into the room and basically thanked Khabby," Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier said. "He's the one that kept us in the game."
Carolina 4, N.Y. Islanders 2. Sami Kapanen, Jeff O'Neill and Niclas Wallin scored during an 11 1/2-minute stretch in the second period as Carolina beat New York.
The Hurricanes overcame a 2-0 first-period deficit to win the first of a nine-game homestand and improve to 4-1-1 in their last six.
The Islanders dropped their third straight game to fall to 3-6-1 in 10 games. New York started 8-0-1-1 last season.
O'Neill extended his NHL-best point streak to 10 straight games. Kapanen's goal was his 16th against the Islanders.
Boston 7, Washington 2. Brian Rolston had a goal and two assists as Boston extended its unbeaten streak to eight games.
P.J. Axelsson, Rob Zamuner, Josef Stum pel, Bryan Berard, Joe Thornton and Glen Murray also tallied for the Bruins, 6-0-2 since losing their season opener 5-1 at the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 11.
Kip Miller and Steve Konowalchuk scored for Washington, which has dropped two straight and is winless in four (0-3-1).
The Capitals played their first home game since opening night, following an eight-game road trip.
Craig Billington allowed four Boston goals on only 12 shots.
Pittsburgh 4, Ottawa 1. Mario Lemieux scored a goal and had two assists to lead Pittsburgh at Ottawa. Dick Tarnstrom, Jan Hrdina and Alexei Kovalev also scored for Pittsburgh, which won its third straight to improve to 6-2-2.
Lemieux increased his league-leading points total to 23 in 10 games. Lemieux and Kovalev extended their points streaks to nine games. Both players have points in every Penguins game since a season-opening 6-0 loss to Toronto.
Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson scored as Ottawa's winless streak stretched to four games.
St. Louis 7, Nashville 0. Reed Low, Al MacInnis and Keith Tkachuk scored on successive shots during a four-goal second period as St. Louis earned its sixth straight victory.
The Blues are 6-0-1 since losing the season opener, despite being forced to use four goalies because of injuries.
Fred Brathwaite made 19 saves for his 14th career shutout in his second straight start since recovering from a groin injury.
Florida 3, Dallas 2, OT. Valeri Bure scored 3:21 into overtime, and backup Jani Hurme made 42 saves as Florida handed Dallas its first home loss.
Brenden Morrow's short-handed goal with 8:52 remaining in regulation lifted the Stars into a tie.
The Stars held a 44-13 shots advantage, 13-0 in the third period and 5-1 in overtime. Dallas had won its first three home games and was unbeaten in four games (3-0-1).
Kristian Huselius had a goal and an assist, and Ivan Novoseltsev had the other goal for Florida, which was winless in three games (0-2-1).