SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #933 (1), Friday, January 9, 2004
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TITLE: 10 Hopefuls Enter Presidential Race
AUTHOR: By Francesca Mereu
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Nine candidates, including SPS leader Irina Khakamada and Rodina leader Sergei Glazyev, met a year-end deadline to register to run against President Vladimir Putin in the March presidential election. But many of the challengers are Putin allies or are running at the Kremlin's request, so the election is shaping up to be a one-horse race, political analysts said Thursday.
Central Elections Commission chief Alexander Veshnyakov said this week that the 10 candidates have been tentatively approved to participate in the March 14 election after meeting the Dec. 28 deadline.
Eight of the candidates, including Khakamada, Glazyev and Putin, now have until the end of January to collect the 2 million signatures needed to get their names on the ballot. The other two candidates - relative unknowns Oleg Malyshkin of the Liberal Democratic Party and Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party - were registered by their parties, which have seats in the State Duma and, as such, are not required to collect the signatures.
Khakamada apparently only entered the race at the urging of a Kremlin set on giving the election a semblance of democracy, analysts said.
"She is one of the few decent figures taking part in this race, and the Kremlin is interested in having someone like her challenging Putin," said Vladimir Pribylovsky, president of the Panorama think tank.
He predicted that the Kremlin would probably help her collect the 2 million signatures and give her access to state-controlled media.
Khakamada's SPS, or Union of Right Forces, party failed to break the 5 percent barrier to get seats in the Duma last month, and the well-known liberal reformer did not get re-elected after losing in a single-mandate race in St. Petersburg.
SPS and the liberal Yabloko party, which also failed to break the 5 percent barrier, tried unsuccessfully last month to come up with a single presidential candidate to run against Putin. Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky, who has run in every post-Soviet presidential election, decided not to participate this time, and his party is not fielding a candidate.
Glazyev, a nationalist-minded economist, appears to also be running at the Kremlin's urging - thus allowing the Kremlin to say that the candidates represent a broad band of the political spectrum, from Communists to liberals to nationalists, said Pribylovsky and Dmitry Orlov, a political analyst at the Center for Political Technologies think tank.
Among the other candidates that analysts believe are running with the Kremlin's blessing are former Central Bank chief Viktor Gerashchenko, who was registered by the Russian Regions Party, part of the Rodina bloc; flamboyant pharmaceutical multimillionaire Vladimir Bryntsalov; and Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov.
Mironov said he was running "to show that the president is not alone."
"When a leader who is trusted goes into battle, he must not be left alone. One must stand beside him," Mironov was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying.
Bryntsalov is a member of the main council of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party and finished in 10th place in the 1996 presidential election.
Rodina representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday on why the bloc was not directly backing Glazyev or Gerashchenko.
Businessman Boris Berezovsky, who is in Britain after being granted asylum there last year, is fielding his ally Ivan Rybkin.
The 10th candidate in this year's race is Anzori Aksentiev-Kikalishvili, an obscure businessman from Kaliningrad.
German Sterligov, a coffin magnate who unsuccessfully ran for Krasnoyarsk governor and Moscow mayor, was denied registration. The Central Elections Commission said an appendix to the application Sterligov submitted was not notarized.
Sterligov has appealed to the Constitutional Court, which is to consider the case Monday.
LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who ran in the 1996 and 2000 elections, has given little reason for his decision not to run this year. The day after the Dec. 7 Duma elections - when preliminary results showed that LDPR had done astoundingly well, taking 11.45 percent of the vote - Zhirinovsky announced that he would run. But he later changed his mind and said he would back his former bodyguard, one-time boxer Malyshkin.
Orlov of the Center for Political Technologies said Zhirinovsky has good reason not to run. "He does not want to directly address his polemic talent against the president," he said.
In 2000, well-known politicians like Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and Yavlinsky were also in the race, but this year Zhirinovsky "would be the only person in a position to offer a direct challenge to the president, and he does not want that," Orlov said.
Zyuganov refused to run after the Communists suffered disappointing losses in Duma elections, securing only 12.61 percent of the vote, and he is thought to have put forward Kharitonov's candidacy.
TITLE: Bill To Save Green Areas Suspended At City Hall
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A bill aimed at protecting green areas in St. Petersburg from construction projects that damage parks, gardens and lawns in the city is in suspended animation somewhere in City Hall.
The bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly in the final reading in December and sent to the governor to be signed with a deadline on Wednesday.
City Hall representatives said Thursday they had no idea of the status of the bill or what was happening with it. But Legislative Assembly staff and local environmentalists are convinced the law is under threat from city construction companies that don't want their hands tied by the restrictions the law intends to enforce.
"I don't think this law is favorable to construction companies," Dmitry Artamonov, a spokesman for the local branch of Greenpeace, said Thursday in a telephone interview. "According to recent information we have, [Mikhail] Brodsky, [City Hall's representative at the Legislative Assembly] has said the governor will not sign the bill. This is what the construction companies have worked for.
"The law doesn't only cover land inside yards, but also parks where [construction companies] cut down trees to clear land for construction," he said.
In an open letter sent to Governor Valentina Matviyenko at the end of last month, Greenpeace cited City Hall's ecological protection committee data that showed the number of plants -trees, grass, bushes - in public areas of the city has fallen 27 percent in the last four years.
"The draft is at the governor's office somewhere," Nikolai Mizenko, a representative of City Hall's gardens and parks' maintenance department said Thursday in a telephone interview. "I don't know what's going on exactly with this law at the moment. The delay might be linked to all these elections, including recent reshuffles in the Legislative Assembly itself."
The bill was originally passed July 2 last year, but was later vetoed and numerous amendments were requested by Alexander Beglov, acting governor at that time. Greenpeace said the amendments would have perverted the law. But on Dec. 17 the Legislative Assembly voted down most of the City Hall amendments and sent the bill to be signed by the governor.
Mizenko said City Hall wants to protect city green areas and is preparing a governor's decree to significantly raise fines for construction companies that cut down trees.
"[The Legislative Assembly bill] is, of course, likely to face a certain resistance from construction companies, but it's not what is going to stop them [working in green areas]," Mizenko said. "We plan to increase fines for damage in the same way it works in Moscow and in Europe - that [construction companies] have to pay a penalty in accordance with the amount of damage they cause.
"It is much more expensive, of course, to replace a tree that is cut down next to Gostiny Dvor, than something cut down somewhere in Kupchino [district]," he said.
Mizenko said the governor's decree will be ready this month.
In December, City Hall banned the construction of trading pavilions that were to be built in the next few months by the Prosperity construction company on sidewalks and lawns along Bolshoi Prospekt on Vasily Island. City Hall has told the company to remove the foundations that were laid and to restore lawns it destroyed.
Boris Vishnevsky, a member of the Legislative Assembly for Yabloko, one of the factions that initiated the law to protect green areas, said it might be that the bill is stuck because under Matviyenko, who was elected in October, the process of approving documents in City Hall has started to take much longer.
"The main point of the law is to ban any sort of [construction] activity in gardens and parks in the city," Vishnevsky said in a telephone interview Thursday. "Construction companies, you see, treat any green spot in the city as an insult and look into the possibility of building something there.
"It could be [that the delay] is part of the routine mess at City Hall," he added. "Since Matviyenko took up office, the time taken to get an answer to a deputy's inquiry has increased to a month, while the law says it should be answered within a week.
"Some people say she wants to read everything personally to get a good understanding of the problems," he said.
"But she hasn't got enough time, so documents, which authorities are not able to deal with, are piling up on desks."
"There was a Legislative Assembly regulation abolished years ago that said if the governor did not sign a law within 10 days the speaker of the assembly has the right to sign it and to put it into a force. I wish this worked now," Vishnevsky said.
The St. Petersburg Association of Construction Companies could not reached for comment Thursday because its staff is on New Year's vacations.
TITLE: Kadyrov Taps Businessman to Represent Chechnya
AUTHOR: By Anatoly Medetsky
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Umar Dzhabrailov, a Moscow-based Chechen businessman whose name surfaced in investigations of the murder of his one-time American partner and of an assassination attempt against a senior Moscow official, has been picked by Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov to serve as Chechnya's representative in the Federation Council.
Kadyrov signed a decree putting forward Dzhabrailov's candidacy as senator Monday. The Federation Council, which reconvenes after an extended holiday break on Jan. 28, still has to approve the nomination.
In announcing his decision, Kadyrov said Dzhabrailov knows all the right people and - perhaps more importantly - has toed the Kremlin's line in the two Chechen wars.
"Dzhabrailov is a well-known Russian businessman and public figure who has strong working relations with many politicians in Russia as well as a superb command of the situation in Chechnya," Kadyrov said in comments carried by Interfax.
"Dzhabrailov, starting from the 1990s, has always taken a clear and principled position regarding the events that have taken place in the republic and has never wavered no matter the situation," he said.
Political analysts said Thursday that Dzhabrailov is a sharp leader who could bridge a gapping divide between Kadyrov, a former rebel leader handpicked by the Kremlin to lead Chechnya, and the influential Chechen diaspora in Moscow.
Dzhabrailov, who ran for president in the 2000 election, winning just 0.08 percent of the vote, heads the hotel, retail and security holding Plaza Group, which manages the Smolensky Passazh and Okhotny Ryad shopping centers and the Rossiya Hotel and has an undisclosed stake in Pervoye OVK Bank.
In 1996, Dzhabrailov's American partner in the Radisson-Slavyanskaya hotel, Paul Tatum, was gunned down in a hail of bullets in a long-running ownership dispute over the property. Before his death, Tatum told the police that Dzhabrailov had threatened to kill him.
Dzhabrailov denied any involvement, but Washington withdrew his U.S. visa just weeks after the killing. Police have never solved the case.
In the other case, Dzhabrailov's name surfaced in 2002 after masked gunmen opened fire on a car carrying senior Moscow official Iosif Ordzhonikidze, who among other things oversees real estate in the capital. The attack came a day before Ordzhonikidze planned to terminate a management contract between city-controlled Radisson-Slavjanskaya and Dzhabrailov's company.
The attackers retreated after a shootout with Ordzhonikidze's bodyguards. Ordzhonikidze escaped unhurt, but a bodyguard and a student in a passing minivan were injured.
Police later said they found the body of one of them near a burned-out getaway car with a passport identifying him as Dzhabrailov's cousin Salavat Dzhabrailov.
Dzhabrailov said at the time that the assassination attempt was a setup aimed at blackening his name and that his cousin had been kidnapped.
Police have yet to make the findings of their investigation of the shootout public.
Alexei Malashenko, an analyst who tracks Chechnya at the Carnegie Moscow Center, played down any concerns about Dzhabrailov's past, saying such allegations are common in Russian politics.
"I don't see a big problem with that," he said. "Umar's virtues override any negative aspects."
Kadyrov picked Dzhabrailov in an attempt "to show good relations between himself and the Chechen economic elite" in Moscow - a good choice because Dzhabrailov is "a businessman, a leader of the Chechen elite and he's smart," Malashenko said.
If approved by the Federation Council, Dzhabrailov would replace Akhmar Zavgayev, who was elected to the State Duma last month. Dzhabrailov, like other lawmakers, would also receive immunity from prosecution.
TITLE: Medals Given for Manhunt
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin pinned medals on several dozen soldiers involved in what authorities called a successful operation to eliminate a band of Chechen rebels in Dagestan, praising the men for helping "establish constitutional order" and fight "international terrorism."
In a partially televised ceremony that appeared aimed to boost morale and emphasize Putin's support for the military, security agencies and police, Putin on Monday awarded medals to 49 uniformed, crewcut soldiers and officers from military intelligence and reconnaissance units.
"You have once again shown in the most convincing fashion that our armed forces, security services and law enforcement organs are in a position to act in coordination, professionally and effectively," Putin said.
Federal troops backed by helicopter gunships hunted for the rebels in the rugged mountains near the junction of the internal frontier between Chechnya and Dagestan and Russia's border with Georgia. On Dec. 30, the top military commander in Chechnya said his forces had eliminated the group, killing more than 30 rebels and taking three prisoner.
The claim of a successful operation was featured prominently in newscasts on state-run television, in contrast to the fighting that persists in Chechnya itself, where soldiers are killed in daily rebel attacks, clashes and land-mine blasts.
TITLE: Orthodox Christmas Marked With Services, Pop Concerts
AUTHOR: By Steve Gutterman
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Eastern Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrated Christmas on Wednesday with church services and pop concerts.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II held a Christmas Day service at the hulking Christ the Savior Cathedral. In a Christmas message that aired on state-run television, Alexy called the church's reconstruction a "miracle," saying the "strengthening of our great country is becoming clearer and clearer."
Thousands attended Alexy's earlier midnight service at the recently rebuilt church, which was destroyed in 1931 by order of Josef Stalin.
Beneath the multicolored onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral outside the Kremlin, actors and singers in colorful costumes performed a fast-paced Christmas pageant with a nativity scene as a backdrop. Thousands of university students gathered for a pop concert.
Christmas falls on Jan. 7 for Orthodox Christians in the Holy Land, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox churches that use the old Julian calendar instead of the 16th-century Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholics and Protestants and commonly used in secular life around the world.
President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to a church and monastery in Zvenigorod just north of Moscow that Orthodox Christianity is an integral part of Russian culture.
"One should not completely draw a line between the culture and the church," Putin said in televised comments. "Of course, by law in our country the church is separate from the state, but in the soul and the history of our people it's all together. Always has been and always will be."
State-run television showed him drinking tea with boys at an orphanage run by the monastery and watching them perform a Christmas concert.
Told that the boys wanted a banya with a swimming pool, Putin promised that the government would help realize the dream.
TITLE: Lawyer: Starovoitova Suspects Admit Role
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Three of six suspects being tried for their role in the assassination of State Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova in 1998 have admitted their guilt to investigators, "with certain reservations," Yury Shmidt, the lawyer for Starovoitova's family, said Monday.
Anatoly Voronin, Yury Ionov and Igor Krasnov have confessed that they participated in the preparations for the assassination, but said that they had not known they were part of a plan to murder Starovoitova, the lawyer said.
"They have admitted being guilty of what they have been charged with doing, but said they didn't know it was part of a terrorist attack to kill the State Duma lawmaker," Shmidt said Monday in an interview.
"The other suspects continue to deny their charges," he said.
Shmidt did not comment on whether the three who he said had admitted their guilt will turn evidence against the other suspects, or if any incentives or concessions had been offered to them to obtain the confessions.
Investigators allege that Voronin's role was to monitor Starovoitova's phone calls and then convey information to the organizers of the assassination. Ionov allegedly drove Vitaly Akishin and Oleg Fedosov, whom prosecutors identify as the killers, from the murder scene.
Voronin also allegedly dumped the killers' outer clothing in a river. He was the only suspect to plead guilty as charged at a court hearing on Monday.
Krasnov's role is not clear, but he was also charged with preparing the assassination.
Alexander Safronov, lawyer for Yury Kolchin, allegedly the main coordinator of the assassination, called for Judge Valentina Kudryashova to be replaced Monday, saying she is biased.
Evidence for her bias were that she had refused to call two defense witnesses and that she had rejected defense requests made at a preliminary hearing in December that the case be heard by a jury, he said.
He also said Kudryashova started the trial while she was officially ill.
"The defense has grounds to believe there is a personal interest [of the judge] involved," Safronov said in the court. "We have heard that she is injured in a way that prevents her from running the trial. Unfortunately, we don't have official papers to prove it. In addition, the court has refused to invite our witnesses for clearly arbritrary reasons."
Kudryashova smiled when she heard Safronov say she had an injury.
The court rejected Safronov's plea due to a lack of "any credible proof."
Shmidt, also the lawyer for Ruslan Linkov, Starovoitova's assistant at the time of the assassination, who was also injured in the attack, said the defense plea was frivolous.
Safronov was trying to create grounds to appeal to the Supreme Court if the suspects are found guilty "which I have almost no doubt they will be," he added.
Shmidt said Safronov, like all the suspects originally from the Bryansk region, is about to take on the defense of all six suspects.
"He showed up in St. Petersburg with a pile of orders to defend all of them," Shmidt said.
Kolchin, a former employee of the State Intelligence Directorate, worked as a driver of one of the leaders of the so-called Tambov organized crime gang at the time of the assassination.
Voronin, Ionov, Akishin, Lelyavin and Krasnov are allegedly members of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, or LDPR.
Fedosov, the second alleged killer and three other suspects are still at large, including two whom the General Prosecutor's Office has requested an unidentified European country to extradite.
The next hearing is scheduled to take place Feb. 24.
TITLE: United Russia Could Chair All State Duma Committees
AUTHOR: By Maria Danilova
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - In the latest sign of the Kremlin's domination of the newly elected State Duma, all of its committees could be led by members of the United Russia party, a deputy said Tuesday.
Oleg Kovalyov, a deputy from the pro-President Vladimir Putin party, which holds a two-thirds majority in the Duma elected last month, said Tuesday that the party is prepared to head all of the parliamentary committees, Interfax reported.
Although no final decision on who will chair the committees has been made yet, "we are truly ready to take upon ourselves the full responsibility of the work of the chamber," Kovalyov was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Kovalyov is head of the interim committee responsible for organizing the parliament's work and framing its regulations.
Kovalyov said the initial plan was to distribute chairmanships on a proportional basis among all the parties that gained seats in the Duma, but he claimed that United Russia's counterparts in the Duma, especially the Communists, were not ready to take on the responsibility and would probably complain about the chairmanships they received.
"We are not surprised by this move," Communist Party spokesman Andrei Andreyev said by telephone. "United Russia repeatedly made it clear during their election campaign that the winner takes all."
Along with United Russia and the Communists, only two political groups gained seats in the Duma through party-list voting in the Dec. 7 elections: flamboyant nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, or LDPR, and the nationalist-socialist Homeland bloc.
The new Duma met for its first session Dec. 29 and elected United Russia chairman Boris Gryzlov as speaker.
The Duma reconvenes after the New Year's holidays, on Thursday.
TITLE: Entry Fee to Hermitage Rises
PUBLISHER: The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: The entry fee for Russians visiting the State Hermitage Museum went up more than six times on Jan. 1, but certain people will still be able to enter at no charge and individual visitors will be able to enter free on the first Thursday of each month.
The entry fee for locals rose from 15 rubles (52 cents) to 100 rubles. The price for foreigners has remained the same at 350 rubles.
"We have not raised the price for three years and that has resulted in budget difficulties for the museum," Interfax quoted an unnamed museum spokesperson as saying. "An increase had been planned in 2003, however because it was the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, the managers decided not to change the price for tickets."
Fifty percent of the museum's visitors enter free. Those entitled to do so include people aged under 17 and students regardless of their nationality, residents of Leningrad during the Blockade, veterans of World War II, people with disabilities, families with three or more children, and members and staff of cultural organizations.
The free entry on the first Thursday of the month applies to individuals only and not to groups or those taking paid excursions. Taking photographs or recording on video inside the Hermitage requires the payment of an additional fee.
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Trading Quadruples
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Trading in shares on the St. Petersburg Stock Market in 2003 grew to 228 billion rubles, four times the volume for 2002, Interfax reported Thursday.
A stock exchange press release cited growth in the number of securities traded and trader activity as reasons for the increase in volume.
The share of Gazprom securities in the structure of deals was 54.3 percent, UES 2.6 percent, LUKoil 2.2 percent, and Surgutneftegaz 2 percent.
Inflation Down at 12%
MOSCOW (SPT) - For the first time ever inflation in 2003 will hit the forecast target of 12 percent, the Ministry of Economic Development told Interfax on Tuesday.
Inflation on the consumer market between January and November 2003 amounted to 10.8 percent, against 13.3 percent for the same period in 2002.
The government predicts inflation of between 8 percent and 10 percent in 2004.
Megafon Hits 2.5Mln
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The number of Megafon subscribers in the Northwest Federal District hit 2.5 million, Interfax quoted a company press release as saying on Monday.
More than 75 percent of these subscribers live in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast, the press release said.
Megafon service is now available at 48 stations of St. Petersburg's metro system.
Urban Renewal Plan
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The St. Petersburg administration on Dec. 30 adopted a resolution to rebuild a former industrial neighborhood on Obvodny Canal, Interfax reported.
According to a city administration press release, relocation of inhabitants of the neighborhood delineated by Obvodny Canal, Ulitsa Shkapina and Ulitsa Rozenshteina will result in construction of a retail trade, entertainment and services infrastructure.
Dilapidated housing will be demolished to make way for the new complex. Relocation of residents on the 4.5-hectare plot will cost more than $36 million and is scheduled for completion by 2007.
Laplandiya Investment
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - St. Petersburg's Laplandiya Co. intends to invest $4 million in construction of a receiving and warehousing complex in the Gatchina region of Leningrad Oblast, Interfax reported on Dec. 30.
Laplandiya deputy general director Viktor Leshchenko said the project had been approved by the Leningrad Oblast government.
The complex will include two 2,000-ton-capacity refrigerators, a 1,000-ton-capacity warehouse, a restaurant, a 50-bed hotel and a seafood-processing shop capable of handling up to 2 tons of seafood per day.
Wood Plant Postponed
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Svir Timber has one more year to build a wood processing plant in the Podporozhsky region of Leningrad Oblast, Interfax reported on Dec. 31.
The Leningrad Oblast government's interagency commission on distribution of industry in the Oblast extended the deadline for Svir Timber, a subsidiary of Finland's Metsabotnia, to Jan. 16, 2005.
Implementation of the project was delayed when Metsabotnia chose a new 39-hectare plot of land for construction. Originally Svir Timber sought a 150-hectare plot.
Earlier Metsabotnia, itself a subsidiary of the Metsaliitto and UPM Kummene concerns, announced that it would invest 60 million euros in construction of a plant to process 300,000 cubic meters of wood per year.
Forbes Goes Russian
MOSCOW (SPT) - Forbes magazine will soon print a Russian version, Axel Springer Russia publisher general director Irina Silayeva told Interfax last week.
Print run, distribution and when the Russian version will hit newsstands remain to be determined. Transport Fares Up
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The cost of public transport will rise by about 15 percent from Saturday, Interfax reported Thursday.
The fares for buses, trolleybuses and trams will rise from 6 rubles (21 cents) to 7 rubles. Metro journeys will also be 1 ruble more expensive, rising from 7 rubles to 8 rubles, the report said.
Markova Rejected
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A St. Petersburg court on Dec. 30 declined a plea from former city vice governor Anna Markova to investigate the actions of the city prosecutor.
Markova, who came second to Governor Valentina Matviyenko in last year's gubernatorial elections, is being prosecuted on Matviyenko's initiative for allegedly defaming Matviyenko in a televised debate during the campaign.
"The court rejected my plea because it did not consider my rights had been breached," Interfax quoted Markova as saying. "However, the practices of the European Court of Human Rights [in Strasbourg] are quite different."
Markova said she would appeal last month's decision by the Oktyabr district court to the city court. A complaint would also be sent to General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov "in connection with breaches of the law by St. Petersburg prosecutor Nikolai Vinnichenko," she added.
Lebed Pilots Guilty
MOSCOW (AP) - The Krasnoyarsk regional court on Tuesday convicted two pilots charged in the 2002 helicopter crash that killed military hero and Krasnoyarsk Governor Alexander Lebed, sentencing one to four years in a labor camp and handing the other a three-year suspended sentence.
The court found the pilots guilty of aviation safety violations in the April 2002 crash that killed Lebed and seven other people when the Mi-8 helicopter smashed into a snowy hillside after hitting or maneuvering to avoid a power line in a thick fog. Twelve people survived.
One of the pilots, Takhir Akhmerov, was sentenced to four years in a labor camp and forbidden from any work involving transporting passengers for three years after that, Interfax reported. The other, Alexei Kurilovich, received a three-year suspended sentence and two years on parole, Interfax reported.
Judge Sergei Afanasyev said the pilots could have prevented the accident and were guilty of criminal negligence.
Plan to Raise Sub
MOSCOW (AP) - Authorities plan to raise a mothballed nuclear submarine that sank as it was being towed to a scrap yard last summer, but the operation may not be attempted until next year.
The navy has decided to raise the K-159 submarine, whose accidental sinking in the Barents Sea on Aug. 30 killed nine of the 10 crewmen aboard, Interfax quoted an unidentified navy official as saying Monday.
Danilov Appeal
MOSCOW (AP) - Prosecutors have appealed the acquittal of Valentin Danilov, a scientist who had been accused of espionage, Interfax reported Tuesday.
Danilov, a professor at Krasnoyarsk Technical University in Siberia, was accused by the regional branch of the Federal Security Service of selling classified information on space technology to China and misappropriating university funds. He was tried by a jury, and on Dec. 29 he was found not guilty.
Regional prosecutors filed an appeal to the Krasnoyarsk regional court on Monday, Interfax said.
TITLE: Yukos To Face $3.3Bln Tax Bill
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Isachenkov
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - In a fresh blow to Russian oil giant Yukos and its jailed former leader Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Tax Ministry last Tuesday slapped on a 98 billion-ruble ($3.3 billion) bill for back taxes, fines and other penalties.
The ministry said Yukos had dodged taxes by setting up a network of affiliated companies that claimed tax breaks it described as unlawful, according to an official statement carried by the Interfax news agency.
It said that it had made the conclusion after checking Yukos' tax records for 2000.
Officials at the Tax Ministry wouldn't immediately comment on the report.
Earlier in December, Interfax cited a letter from a deputy tax minister alleging that Yukos's debt arrears amounted to 150 billion rubles (more than $5 billion). That report was never confirmed by the Tax Ministry.
Yukos executives have insisted that the company had paid all taxes due. They issued a statement rejecting the tax ministry's finding, saying that the bill was the equivalent of 84 percent of the company's earnings for that year.
Yukos has been the target of a far-ranging government probe that reached a peak with the Oct. 25 arrest of its ex-chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of tax evasion and fraud and the subsequent freezing of about 40 percent of the company's stakes.
The probe against Yukos has been broadly seen as a Kremlin-inspired effort to curb Khodorkovsky's clout and avenge his funding of opposition parties. President Vladimir Putin has denied the allegations and tried to cast it as part of anti-corruption efforts.
Khodorkovsky has remained in custody since his arrest.
The probe against Yukos derailed its merger with Sibneft, which would have created the world's fourth-largest oil producer, valued at $36 billion. The two companies have called off the merger and started talks on unraveling the deal.
Under terms of the original deal, Yukos bought a 92 percent stake in Sibneft from Millhouse, its core shareholder, for $3 billion in cash and 26.01 percent of the shares in the combined company. Yukos is now seeking interest on the money it paid for Sibneft shares, which Sibneft hasn't acknowledged.
As part of the legal wrangling that accompanied their divorce, Yukos last Tuesday boycotted a meeting of Sibneft shareholders that was to re-elect its old board of directors, leaving it without a quorum.
Yukos had pushed for election of a new Sibneft board reflecting its 92 stake in the company, but Sibneft has rejected the move and simply renominated the existing board.
TITLE: Oil Production Rises 11%
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MOSCOW - Russia's oil and condensate production rose 11 percent last year to 8.4 million barrels a day, the Interfax news agency said Monday, citing Russia's Energy Ministry.
Natural gas production was up 3.6 percent to 616.45 billion cubic meters (21.77 trillion cubic feet).
Russia also exported 9 percent more oil through the state-run pipeline system to countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States. Exports rose to 149.82 million tons (167.8 million U.S. tons) last year, Interfax said.
Oil exports to nations in the CIS were up 13.4 percent to 37.5 million tons.
Oil is Russia's top export commodity, and high world prices have helped fuel growth in the Russian economy. But economic analysts have warned that Russia is too reliant on energy exports and should develop other business sectors.
Meanwhile, the Interfax news agency, citing a source in the government commission for customs policy, reported that Russia might increase its oil export duty on Feb. 1 to $33.80 a metric ton (1.1 U.S. tons) from $31.20 a metric ton.
Russia usually changes the oil export duty to reflect the changes in international oil prices.
TITLE: biggest 2003 acts were local
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Last year marked the city's 300th anniversary, but despite early rumors about Radiohead or Paul McCartney performing on Palace Square, no big or current international rock stars turned up for the event. However, a bunch of seemingly randomly picked Euro performers, from the veteran Greek pop singer Demis Roussos to German rockers The Scorpions, did lip-sync their way through the exclusive concert thrown by President Vladimir Putin for 40 foreign heads of state on a beach on the Gulf of Finland during the official anniversary celebrations in May.
Otherwise, the city got its usual mixed bag of international artists, from Chuck Berry to Bjork. The Stereoleto festival, which ran every Saturday for seven weeks during the summer, was a huge success bringing cool acts like Swedish crooner Jay-Jay Johanson, and Amorphous Androgynous - the project launched by Gary Cobain of Future Sound of London fame, among others.
The reformed Dead Kennedys' arrival in February confirmed that punk is dead. In an interview with The St. Petersburg Times, the band's guitarist East Bay Ray claimed that former frontman Jello Biafra was stealing the band's money, while Biafra, speaking from San Francisco, denied the accusations saying: "They made this story up in an attempt to ruin me and steal the rights to Dead Kennedys so they'd never have to pay me again."
The long-awaited appearance by King Crimson, fronted by Robert Fripp, came in June. This came just three months after the 21st Century Schizoid Band, featuring some former members of King Crimson and performing its early material.
The American minimalist composer Philip Glass, who had never been to Russia, played a one-off concert with his ensemble in November but was met with a disappointingly small audience.
Scheduled for December, The Cardigans failed to come at all, while its promoter and the $20,000 collected from local box-offices disappeared shortly before the planned date.
However, probably the most excitement on the music scene in St. Petersburg in 2003 was caused by the visit of Paul McCartney, who didn't even play a concert here.
McCartney came in May when he discovered he had a couple of free days between shows in Hamburg and Moscow. He was invited by Anthea Eno, the wife of Brian Eno, who asked him to inaugurate the Menshikov Foundation, a children's charity that operates in St. Petersburg.
McCartney spent two days in the city, conducting a masterclass at the Glinka Musical College and accepting honors at the Conservatory. Later in the year, he made a $5,000 gift to a local boarding school, which was used to build a playground in the schoolyard.
The past year saw Russian rock stars getting honors from the state for their birthdays, as Boris Grebenshchikov, the founder of the classic rock band Akvarium, did on his 50th birthday in November. Akvarium celebrated the date with concerts both in the Kremlin Palace in Moscow and at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, while Grebenshchikov was seen on two state television channels drinking tea with then-interior minister Boris Gryzlov, who just happened to be campaigning as the leader of the pro-Putin party United Russia ahead of its landslide victory in the Duma in December.
Though described as an "unofficial campaigner" by writer and promoter Artyom Troitsky, Grebenshchikov disagreed, saying that Gryzlov "didn't say anything about it [the campaign] to me... I can't see any participation in the pre-election campaign [on my part] so far."
Grebenshchikov's band released a fine album, called "Pesni Rybaka" (Fisherman Songs), in May, but it was Sergei Shnurov and his ska-punk band Leningrad, who ruled the waves throughout the year.
Still banned from playing in Moscow because its mayor, Yury Luzhkov, is reported to hate the band for Shnurov's explicit lyrics, Leningrad toured the rest of the country as well as Europe and the United States. Shnurov also wrote the soundtrack for "Bimmer," the gangster road movie that opened in August and became a huge box-office hit.
It was an eventful year for "Shnur" and his partners in crime. He quit and sued his former label, Gala Records, which then took its revenge by releasing a live double CD and video cassette called - in Beavis-and-Butt-head style - "Leningrad Udelyvayet Ameriku," or "Leningrad Does America," culled from the band's 2002 U.S. tour.
Leningrad recorded a collaboration CD with British trio The Tiger Lillies (due in February or March 2004), and released its own new album, "Dlya Millionov" (For Millions), in October. The same month, Shnurov also launched his own label, Shnur'OK, with the aim of promoting St. Petersburg bands.
Mayor Luzhkov might have felt uneasy in May, when Lyudmila Putin, the president's wife, was shown on television dancing with students to Leningrad's hit "www."
The first release of Shnur'OK was "Thrills and Kills" by the local ska-punk band Spitfire, which probably was the busiest band throughout the past year. Spitfire's full lineup with Shnurov and Leningrad's three other older members performed as Leningrad, but when added to two Markscheider Kunst members and U.S. singer Jennifer Davis, it turned into The St. Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review, with all incarnations performing extensively, not to mention Spitfire's own shows.
Billy's Band broke through to big-time showbiz, having been named "best new band" at a festival in Moscow, and closed the year by appearing alongside all kinds of lip-sync pop acts in New Year television shows on a couple of Moscow channels. This might be good exposure for getting some new fans and bookings, but not so cool for those who already know the band.
The year's saddest loss was the death of Vadim Pokrovsky, frontman of popular local band Dva Samaliota and one of the best-loved people on the local club scene, who died aged 36 of a liver condition in a Moscow hospital on Sept. 24.
The band which he helped to form in 1988 has become popular for its uplifting, ska and Afro-Cuban-tinged songs and Pokrovsky's nonsensical lyrics.
The local club scene has gone through some changes, not all of which were good.
Tsinik, or Cynic, the popular student hangout, reopened in its new location in January 2003 - six months after it had been kicked out of its former premises and the building had been pulled down. The new Tsinik became much cleaner and its audience even younger, but it lost its impromptu nature to a certain degree - although it still hosts occasional concerts. It also lost some of its democratic feel, hosting a few invitation-only parties while its regulars were turned away, and rock stars have become a rare sight now that the place has moved from its convenient location near the Moscow Station.
Fakultet, or Faculty, a venue which promoted itself as the St. Petersburg State University's official club, was closed during the same month "for reconstruction," according to its spokesperson, although it never came back to life. It had once promoted a few good concerts by the finest local bands and off-the-wall events such as alternative poetry readings - one even featured Shnurov reciting his poems - but its demise went almost unnoticed.
Also in January, Moloko, one of the oldest and most loved of the city's underground clubs, found itself on the brink of being closed when the district department of the City Property Committee, which owns the building, refused to renew its rental agreement with the club without giving any convincing reasons. Lawsuits from the both sides followed, and the club still functions, but its director Yury Ugryumov demonstrates no optimism about its future.
In September, a drug squad raid on the bunker club Griboyedov with OMON special force policemen shouting "Suki, na pol!" [Down, bastards!], kicking and humiliating both staff and visitors, created a strong feel of déjà vu - as it was similar to the almost forgotten raids on local underground clubs that took place in 1995 and 1996. According to the management, the police failed to find any drugs, while the police later claimed it did find some.
On the positive side, June saw the opening of Stary Dom, or Old House, a massive club having something to do with the local stadium punk band Korol i Shut. Though inconveniently located, the venue hosted bigger rock acts which do not normally play in clubs - including Akvarium, which has finally got the taste of playing at smaller venues rather than the 2,000-seat theaters they used to. Stary Dom peaked in late November with a gig by Britain's pioneering ska band Bad Manners, which drew almost every local musician influenced by ska, from Spitfire to the ex-members of the seminal 1980s local ska band Stranniye Igry.
Corinth, specializing in all kinds of folk music, was opened in October, though its art director was fired before long. The tendency to launch elitist, VIP-only places continued last year with Onegin in February and Jet Set in December.
However, Red Club enhanced its reputation as one of the best live music venues in town in 2003 by hosting some of the finest concerts of the year - including those by The Tiger Lillies and Brazzaville.
TITLE: chernov's choice
TEXT: British singer Marc Almond postponed his Russian concerts this week - which might lead to a total cancellation of his St. Petersburg concert.
Originally scheduled on Feb. 23, the concert was to launch the local version of Almond's "Russian" album. Called "Heart on Snow," the CD is based on Russian songs, traditional, old Soviet and contemporary.
Speaking to St. Petersburg by phone, the tour's promoter Igor Tonkikh of the Moscow-based indie label FeeLee said Wednesday that Almond's management had confirmed to him that the artist could not perform in Russia in February.
"They said he could perform in the last 10 days of April, so we'll have to rearrange the whole tour anew, speak to venues again and so on, because three concerts, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad had been scheduled," he said.
Tonkikh added he was not even sure the Moscow concert would take place in April, because the postponement will create plenty of work and negotiations.
Almond's official web site, however, provides a different version. "The recently announced forthcoming dates in Russia have been postponed until April by the Russian Promoter due to venue availabilities."
Locally, Ilya Bortnyuk of Svetlaya Muzyka, which was to promote Almond's concert in St. Petersburg in February, said he will not be plugging Almond's concert at all, because of the postponement.
Though the original plan was to release the album in Russia and international simultaneously, this did not happen as "Heart on Snow" appeared abroad in November. The Russian release has been postponed several times.
There is no guarantee that the album will be released in Russia even in February, because its executive producer, Mikhail Kucherenko, who was not available by phone at time of going to print, is reported to be having difficulty finding a Russian label for the album.
Meanwhile, the international edition was seen being sold in Moscow for $20, while pirate copies are now available in the city for a mere $2 a piece.
Almond revealed the idea of the album in his interview to The St. Petersburg Times in October 2001, when he said he would like to do something similar to "Absinthe - The French Album," his 1993 album of French songs, but using Russian material.
"I want the Russian album to have something of this atmosphere, something of the same style of music and songs," he said then.
The album's 19 tracks include such bizarre items as Almond singing Boris Grebenshchikov's "Gosudarynya" backed by Akvarium, and a duo with formidable Soviet party folk singer Lyudmila Zykina (mispelt on the sleeve as "Luydmilla Zukena"). One song on the album was composed by Almond himself.
Called "Gone But Not Forgotten," it features the choir of The Higher Naval Engineering Academy.
The album is mostly in English, as Almond avoids singing long Russian phrases. "I don't think I can sing entire songs in Russian, because my pronunciation would probably be insulting to Russians," he said in the aforementioned 2001 interview. "But it would be nice to pick out some bits for me to sing in Russian."
- By Sergey Chernov
TITLE: europe's buffet is a bountiful feast
AUTHOR: By Elizabeth Barchas
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: It turns out the old adage that you can't get too much of a good thing is true after all - at least when it comes to the brunch buffet offered every Sunday at the Europe Restaurant in the Grand Hotel Europe off Nevsky Prospekt. The all-you-can-eat-and-drink smorgasbord is not just a meal, but rather a dining extravaganza replete with exotic food options, an incredible atmosphere and impressive attention to detail.
At first glance, the hefty price tag of $58 per person plus 5 percent government tax (1,781 rubles total per person) seems outrageous, but a quick survey of the all-inclusive brunch makes it clear that the cost is justified - particularly once you notice the bowls piled high with black and red caviar and the free-flowing champagne, wine and vodka.
When my companion and I arrived we were greeted courteously and escorted to our table by two hostesses who pulled out chairs for us. This excellent service continued throughout the meal. We each ordered a glass of champagne and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and our drinks were immediately brought to us. Whenever we came close to emptying our glasses they were refilled before we even had to ask.
Before tackling the brunch, we spent several minutes absorbing the pleasant atmosphere of the dining room. A huge, twinkling Christmas tree and star-shaped candles provided a festive holiday aura, complemented by a live musical trio playing jazz selections. The music was lively but never obtrusive. The staff, most of whom speak English, provided attentive service without hovering around or rushing us.
Overwhelmed by the dozens of options available for each course, we realized we would need to pace ourselves by sampling small portions of several different items. I began with an avocado, tomato and green onion salad tossed with a vinaigrette dressing, and my friend helped himself to an Asian-style thin noodle salad. My avocado salad was light and refreshing, and the vegetables were perfectly ripe. The noodle salad was tangy and unique, infused with ginger. I also enjoyed a cold potato salad with green onion and herbs, but I could only manage a few bites of my bowl of Russian mushroom soup because it was too creamy.
Selecting main dishes was even harder since every option looked appetizing. I piled my plate with grilled chicken breast on sauteed mushrooms, halibut steak in a cream sauce and veal medallions with brussel sprouts and potato puree. While the veal and chicken were both slightly dry, the halibut was perfectly tender and the cream sauce provided it with a rich flavor.
My companion noted that the seafood dishes were particularly tasty. He described the rock oysters garnished with herbs and vinegar as "succulent" and said they slid down his throat. The seafood ragout, which consisted of salmon, caviar and shrimp in a cream sauce, was similarly delicious. The perch in a sweet and sour sauce, served by a representative from Chopsticks, the Chinese restaurant in the Grand Hotel Europe, was a delectable dish brimming with pineapple and peppers.
By the time we'd finished our second plates it was hard to even contemplate dessert, but the attractive spread of cakes, truffles and mousses ultimately proved irresistible. My companion selected the creme brulee and finished every bite of the smooth, tasty dessert. I created my own ice cream sundae, choosing scoops of chocolate, praline, and rum raisin from among many different ice cream and sorbet options, and topping it with strawberries, blueberries, nuts and shredded coconut - a delicious combination.
While it's generally a good idea to savor every bite when dining at a fine restaurant, the danger at this brunch is overindulgence: gulping down the freshly squeezed juice since another glass is always on the way and consuming the black caviar by the heaped spoonful since it's always possible to go back for seconds ... or thirds. While many buffets sacrifice quality for quantity, the Europe Restaurant does an admirable job of mediating between the two. Not every dish was amazing, but with such a variety of options (including several exotic choices, like venison medallions and goose with red cabbage and bread dumplings) it was impossible not to find selections to our liking.
After we finished eating, we lingered over cups of American-style coffee, listening to a girls' choir that appeared briefly to serenade the glass-vaulted dining room with Christmas carols and amusing ourselves by watching the constant stream of patrons loading their plates with black caviar and jockeying for position in line while waiting for the serving bowl to be refilled. From start to finish we spent over 3 hours at the restaurant. But while we left with waistlines increased and wallets decreased, we made the most of a good thing and decided it wasn't one bit too much.
Europe Restaurant, Grand Hotel Europe, 1 Mikhailovskaya Ul. Tel: 329-6630. Sunday brunch served from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday. Menu in English. Credit cards accepted. All-inclusive brunch for two: 3,562 rubles ($122).
TITLE: diva who weakens strongman
TEXT: The first opera premiere at the Mariinsky Theater in the 2003/04 season was designed for Olga Borodina. For it the world-famous mezzo-soprano at last sang her signature role of Dalila in the opera house where she first found success. The leading role in Camille Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila" catapulted Borodina to international fame and recognition. The diva was in town for just a few nights when the opera opened in December. In an exclusive interview for The St. Petersburg Times, Borodina spoke to Gulyara Sadykh-Zade about her art, her career and life with her three sons.
Q: It has been more than 15 years since you joined the Mariinsky Theater. Why is it that until now there has not been an opera produced specifically with your unique voice in mind, especially in view of your good relationship with artistic director Valery Gergiev?
A: Well, the relations are, indeed, very good but truth is that, as a musician, he is not really keen on my mezzo repertoire. It is simply that my repertoire is apparently not within his artistic priorities.
Q: Are you a native of St. Petersburg?
A: Yes, I am, and so are my parents and my grandparents. I studied music here as well, at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with the famous Irina Bogachyova.
Q: How did you join the Mariinsky?
A: I just went to an audition, arranged by [conductor] Yury Temirkanov, who was the theater's artistic director at the time. It was Temirkanov, who initially gave me a place in the company, in 1986. But the first conductor I actually happened to work with was Valery Gergiev, who replaced Temirkanov. My first role was Siebel in Gounod's "Faust," and it was not my kind of character at all - either in vocal or dramatic terms: these tragic roles don't really suit me. I knew the role wasn't for me, and felt horrendously nervous, and rehearsed way too much just out of fear - because it was the first role I had to show Gergiev. I was on the verge of losing my voice all the time, and he told me straight out I was taking risks with that role. I was so upset and terrified, and didn't know what to do.
Q: Was the young Gergiev really so terrifying?
A: He has always been. Very confident and very demanding. And I was just a modest debutante singing something not really in my repertoire. And I know I did a bad job then. I just know it myself. But eventually Valery saw my potential - I had sung Siebel several times then and also Polina in Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades." Then he suddenly proposed that I sing Marfa in Mussorgsky's "Khovanshchina." This is the most challenging and complicated role, and everyone at the theater just went hysterical. People were telling me I shouldn't even try it, that I was not prepared for Marfa either emotionally or physically, that I was simply too young. Even my former conservatory professor Irina Bogachyova thought it was almost indecent for me to do that. She was so bewildered that she went up to Gergiev and said: "My student is not going to do that." But Gergiev told her that I would. I was begging him to sign me out but he was adamant, and whatever anyone else was saying to him, he didn't change his mind. And I did it.
Q: Wasn't it a bit like a shock therapy, like throwing children into water to see if they can swim?
A: Yes, very much so. Furthermore, the show was broadcast live to European countries. I remember being completely shocked on stage, but I also know it was that performance that launched my international career.
Q: How did you feel at that moment: like an independent artist or more like a piece of clay that was being formed into a work of art by someone else?
A: I became a singer by myself, and now I know that singing is not something one can teach, but something one can learn. I have to admit that at that moment at the Mariinsky Theater I didn't really see a person who would truly understand that every real and bright artistic personality requires a tailor-made approach. It is impossible to treat talented people in a standardized manner, to force them all to accept only a particular vocal technique. Another thing is that meeting artists like Valery Gergiev or Placido Domingo and performing alongside them very much influenced my professional development. I still remember Domingo's most delicate approach when I came to Covent Garden to sing Dalila for the first time. I had already learned the role, but hadn't had a chance to perform it. Naturally, I was shaking: I was invited to England in an emergency. It was literally a last-minute arrangement. I was asked to replace a sick singer. Placido was support and delicacy personified, he had heard me on stage before and I could see he sincerely wanted to be on stage with me.
Q: Don't you feel it is a pity that you didn't have [famous Mariinsky tenor] Vladimir Galuzin to sing Samson with you at the premiere?
A: Yes, it is a real pity. If you only knew how much I tried to convince him to do it. Samson and Jose [in Bizet's "Carmen"] are his very best roles. But he doesn't really want to do them. In my opinion, he is just being lazy and is reluctant to sing in French.
Q: Would you describe yourself as a lazy person?
A: I would say I am naturally lazy. But there is another side of the coin: there is the word "must." And this word means a lot to me. I'd like to add that there are singers who learn and perform everything they are asked to. It doesn't bother them at all if the music suits them or not: for these musicians, it is like a circle: "learn the role, perform it, get paid and that is it." I am not like that and never wanted to be. For me, it is vitally important to stay within my repertoire, to sing only the music I love and understand, and that reflects my tastes.
Q: You have three sons of various ages. The youngest is less than a year old. Do you believe that being a mother can emotionally enrich your performances? Do you ever project your personal experience onto your stage characters?
A: No, I never directly project anything. But naturally any emotional experience and just life in general does affect peoples' conscience. So subconsciously, various recollections and experiences, happy or bitter, are always present in your performances. You just can't avoid it. But it happens naturally. I never try to bring up any personal memories when I am preparing for a role or performance. Now I very much understand what a mistake it was when singers of the older generation, my former teachers, were saying that it is too early to sing Marfa when you are only 25.
Q: Do you own the apartment where you live in St. Petersburg, near the Mariinsky Theater?
A: It is my own flat, where I live with [bass Ildar Abdrazakov] and my three sons aged 17, six and 10 months. We have a nanny who looks after the children in the morning and in the afternoon. In the evening, my mother is with them - and, of course, I spend as much time with them as I possibly can. We often travel together with my boys, but the oldest can't always come because he is a student at the Choir College at the St. Petersburg State Capella. We all love each other very much. And I bring them up in a very fraternal spirit: you are brothers and you should always be together in life.
Q: Did the decision to produce "Samson et Dalila" at the Mariinsky feel to you as if it was spontaneous?
A: Yes, it was rather unexpected. Valery just asked me when I was going to come to St. Petersburg and when I had to leave. I gave him the dates without having any second thoughts. Then he asked me if I could stay one more day, I agreed, and only then he said: "Lets do 'Samson et Dalila'."
Valery had just under a week to rehearse with the orchestra as he had been on tour abroad. The choir had only four days to rehearse. The show' s director Charles Roubaud demonstrated wonders of tact and delicacy. Someone else in his shoes could have created a big fuss over this. I personally didn't have much stress as I have sung Dalila in concert with the Mariinsky symphony orchestra quite a few times. And I have performed it around the world for years now. My next international arrangement, by the way, is also a Dalila, at the Chicago Opera.
TITLE: talents of new eu members perform in kremlin armory
AUTHOR: By George Loomis
TEXT: MOSCOW - Musical institutions sometimes come up with highly original ideas for programming, but it would be hard to think of a more unlikely theme for a music festival than European Union expansion. Yet that's the common tie of the Chamber Orchestra of the Kremlin's annual "Christmas at the Kremlin" series. With a number of former Soviet-bloc countries scheduled to join the EU in 2004, Misha Rachlevsky, the orchestra's conductor, along with Richard Wright, the EU ambassador, hit on the idea of linking individual concerts to embassies of the future EU members; embassies of two long-term EU members, Austria and Germany, are also participating. The eight-concert festival opened Dec. 17 in the Armory of the Kremlin, and four more concerts are scheduled before the series ends Jan. 20.
As Rachlevsky noted in a recent interview, embassy participation doesn't mean that concert-goers will hear a program consisting solely of works by nationals of that country. "That would be too limiting," Rachlevsky said. "They've helped acquaint us with new works and sometimes facilitated the appearance of a soloist from their countries. We have to have the freedom to build an interesting program."
And putting together an interesting program is something of a Rachlevsky specialty, as the opening program illustrated. The high point was a suite from the music to Francois Girard's film "The Red Violin" by prominent American composer John Corigliano, who won an Oscar for the score in 2000. The performance with the composer in attendance, was not the orchestra's first collaboration with Corigliano. Their partnership began with a chance meeting at New York's La Guardia Airport, where the orchestra was changing planes, and came to fruition last March with an all-Corigliano program in Moscow that included the Pulitzer Prize-winning Second Symphony.
The "Red Violin" suite performed at the Kremlin Armory was a version of Corigliano's original compilation, expanded somewhat by Rachlevsky with the composer's blessing to give each of the orchestra's nine violinists a turn at the solo line. The sterling performance of the virtuoso material demonstrated that the Chamber Orchestra of the Kremlin is indeed an ensemble of soloists. Rachlevsky is responsible for the addition of two of the suite's more amusing episodes - a lively Gypsy dance and a frenzied sequence in which the conductor strikes his baton on his music stand like a metronome going faster and faster.
Another choice work in the opening concert was in which the orchestra reveled in the score's rich melodic content. Lithuania, the participating embassy, was represented by the soprano Khasnuk Grigorian, whose robust voice sometimes rang out a bit too strongly for the intimate performance space of the Kremlin Armory.
The next "Christmas at the Kremlin" concert will be held Friday in collaboration with the Slovakian Embassy. On the program is the String Quartet No. 3 by 20th-century Slovakian composer Ilja Zeljenka, a work Rachlevsky describes as "interesting and challenging" in "contemporary" style.
And another dimension of the orchestra's individual talents will be revealed in the Suite for String Orchestra composed by Anton Shelepov, one of the ensemble's violinists. Cellist Marina Archakova will be heard in Ernest Bloch's familiar "Prayer," with works by Gioachino Rossini and Felix Mendelssohn rounding out the program.
Austria's turn comes Jan. 14, with the newest work on its program - Anton Webern's "Langsamer Satz" - nearly a century old. A lush, late-Romantic piece, period.
The orchestra also performs Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and mezzo soprano Maria Kuleshova offers songs by Schubert, Richard and Johann Strauss and Jacques Offenbach.
On Jan. 16, Slovenia will be represented by both a composer and a performer. Pianist Andrea Kosmac will be heard in the "Concertino for Piano and Orchestra" by Lucijan Marija Skerjanc (1900-1973). Rachlevsky chose Skerjanc's "accessible" works for their "strong Romantic quality," he said. Completing the concert will be Giuseppe Verdi's "Symphony for Strings."
The final concert, on Jan. 20, will be given in collaboration with the Irish presidency of the European Union and the delegation of the European commission in Russia and will include works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Alfred Shchnittke, Igor Stravinsky and Edvard Grieg.
The Chamber Orchestra of the Kremlin performs Jan. 9, 14, 16 and 20 at the Kremlin Armory, located in the Kremlin. Enter through Borovitsky Gate. Metro Alexandrovsky Sad. For reservations, call (095) 777-1496.
TITLE: Bryant Booed As Lakers Slump Continues
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: LOS ANGELES - The losses are coming with such regularity for the Los Angeles Lakers, they've gone from the top of the league to fourth place in the Western Conference.
The latest setback came Wednesday night as Kobe Bryant played in Colorado for the first time since being charged with sexual assault there. Carmelo Anthony scored 20 points and helped harass Bryant into a poor shooting night, leading Denver to a 113-91 rout.
A Nuggets-record crowd of 19,739 started booing Bryant during the introductions and continued throughout the game. A chant of "Guilty! Guilty!" rang out midway through the third quarter, and several fans made sexual references throughout. "I've been booed before," Bryant said. "I don't listen to that. I just go out there and play basketball."
Bryant's frustration boiled over in the third quarter when he grabbed Anthony under the basket and both players were called for technical fouls. Bryant regained his composure quickly, patting Anthony on the back of the head and asking if he was all right.
"Every shot he took, you could tell he really wanted this game," said Anthony, who added eight rebounds and six assists. Bryant didn't get much help as Shaquille O'Neal and Karl Malone were sidelined with injuries.
The Lakers shot just 38 percent and allowed the Nuggets to repeatedly drive to the basket, leading to their sixth straight road loss and fourth straight overall. The Lakers had their sixth straight road loss.
"[Bryant] was animated and feisty out there, and those are things that we wanted him to do," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We just wish the rest of the players could have stepped it up to the same level."
Bryant has been accused of attacking a 19-year-old employee at a resort near Vail and faces four years to life in prison or 20 years to life on probation.
Bryant responded well after his last trip to Colorado on Dec. 19, returning to Los Angeles after a hearing in Eagle to hit a game-winning jumper at the buzzer that night against the Nuggets.
He played with the same kind of determination this time, with plenty of grimaces and yells at teammates, but the shots just weren't falling.
"This isn't anything. He's doing fine. He is getting through it,'' Lakers point guard Gary Payton said. "He knows he is going to get booed, so he takes it in a good way.''
SuperSonics 104, Kings 93. At Seattle, Ray Allen scored 22 points and Vladimir Radmanovic added 21 to snap Sacramento's four-game winning streak.
Antonio Daniels scored a season-high 19 points and Ronald Murray had 15 for the Sonics, who have won five of their last six - the only loss coming last weekend to the Kings.
The travel-weary Kings, the NBA's highest-scoring team at 105.3 points a game, never their got their game going in the second half.
Sacramento, playing its fourth game in five nights, had trouble getting to Seattle because of a winter storm. The Kings planned to be in town Tuesday night but arrived at 3:30 p.m., just 3 1/2 hours before tipoff.
Pistons 85, Rockets 66. At Auburn Hills, Mich., Richard Hamilton scored 16 points and Detroit held Houston to its lowest points total of the season while extending its NBA record of holding teams under 100 points to 38 straight games.
The Pistons won their seventh straight game, their longest winning streak in nearly 12 years.
Mavericks 105, Warriors 99. At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored eight of his 23 points in the final 3:56, including a layup that put the Mavericks ahead for good against ex-teammate Nick Van Exel.
The Warriors lost their seventh straight overall and eighth straight on the road, lows they hadn't hit in two seasons. This was their 19th straight loss to the Mavericks.
Bucks 95, Suns 87. At Milwaukee, Michael Redd scored 23 points and the Bucks extended their winning streak to a season-high four games.
Joe Johnson had a season-high 25 points for the Suns, who had newly acquired Antonio McDyess and Howard Eisley in the lineup for the first time.
Raptors 75, Cavaliers 69. At Toronto, Vince Carter scored 11 of his 14 points in the final eight minutes, including a clinching windmill dunk with 21 seconds left. LeBron James had 21 points and five assists, but shot 2-for-8 with no assists in the fourth quarter.
Celtics 101, Magic 93. At Boston, Paul Pierce had 19 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in extending the Magic's losing streak to six games. Tracy McGrady scored 28 points to lead Orlando.
76ers 100, Clippers 80. At Philadelphia, Allen Iverson scored 20 points and the 76ers reached 100 points for the first time in nearly two months.
Heat 102, Bulls 95. At Miami, Eddie Jones scored 27 points as the Heat, coming off their lowest-scoring game of the season, topped the 100-point mark for the fifth time.
Hornets 97, Wizards 87. At New Orleans, Baron Davis had 28 points and 10 assists and David Wesley broke out of a slump with 20 points.