SOURCE: The St. Petersburg Times
DATE: Issue #939 (7), Friday, January 30, 2004
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TITLE: Pause to Fill-In Projects
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Despite Governor Valentina Matviyenko declaring a year-long moratorium on fill-in development, the Legislative Assembly says the practice will continue and the governor's action won't halt a significant number of projects recently approved by City Hall.
Stopping the apparently uncontrolled construction of shops, storage areas and offices in between residential blocks and in the city's scant green areas has irritated many residents and was one of Matviyenko's election promises last year.
"We follow a policy to abolish fill-in developments in a literate understanding of this word," Matviyenko said Saturday at a news conference. "This doesn't mean [we] reject all developments within blocks of buildings - we can't stop the city from developing - but the practice of fill-in development will be abolished."
The moratorium bans construction in green areas where plants grow and in yards that are tidy, Matviyenko said. In the next year, residents living around such yards will be able to "own" them as communal property.
"Those plots of land will then be entirely excluded from plans for [further] development," Matviyenko said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday the city government approved another 65 new development projects, including nine in the city's historic center. One is in a yard at 41 Bolshoi Prospekt on Vasilievsky Island.
Last year a group of local residents halted the project after they begged authorities not to build anything in their yard, said pensioner Svetlana Kuznetsova, 66.
"This is bad. They shouldn't build anything here or on the Vasilievsky Island [old areas] in general," Kuznetsova said Thursday while walking her dog in the yard. "This is all for rich people who want elite places to live. But if they build anything we wouldn't be able to walk around in our yard."
"I see some pluses in Matviyenko's work," she said. "She can't do everything at once."
Inna Trubina, 38, an employee of an audit company and another local resident, said a local businessman wants to fill in in the yard with a residential development. After referring to the developer as "an idiot," she said the businessman had bought a big apartment in a neighboring building and then decided to expand his premises.
"What kind of house could be built here? They should leave this yard as it is. It looks fine now that it has been renovated," she said while removing snow from her car.
Another address that City Hall approved for development last year is nearby on the corner of May Prospekt and the 9th Liniya.
Dmitry Artamonov, a spokesman for Greenpeace's St. Petersburg branch, said trees had grown there, but, because they were not drawn on any City Hall maps, they were unprotected and had been chopped down.
"[Matviyenko's proposal] is good in itself," he said Thursday in a telephone interview. "The problem is that green areas are mentioned in [City Hall] documentation simply as parks without any specific delineation. Also there is no inventory made of the number of trees and where they are."
Draft legislation to collect more specific information on green areas so that they could be better protected was vetoed two times in a row in August by Alexander Beglov, who was then acting governor, and again this month by Matviyenko, he said.
"It was sent back to the Legislative Assembly with amendments that totally compromise its principles," he said. "In Moscow and in the Krasnodar region such laws were passed and work quite well despite, as we all know, development proceeding very actively in Moscow."
Alexei Kovalyov, a Legislative Assembly lawmaker in the Union of Right Forces faction, has a whole map of Vasilievsky Island spotted with small flags identifying fill-in development projects.
"I did it for myself to be aware and remember what's going on there," Kovalyov said Thursday in a telephone interview.
He said he feels the authorities are trying to resolve this issue, but that there is a long way to go.
In December, the City Charter Court ruled that City Hall must call a tender when plots of lands are offered for development, but the court postponed enforcement of the decision until June 2004, Kovalyov said.
"The investment commission approves about 20 projects every week... They've already sucked lots of blood from the city, but want more," Kovalyov said.
On Wednesday, the Legislative Assembly is scheduled to pass a law that gives people control over development of the areas they live in, meaning developers would have to get approval from a neighborhood committee before beginning construction, Kovalyov said.
Kovalyov said that last month City Hall banned 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 Vasilievsky Island. City Hall has told the company to remove the foundations that were laid and to restore lawns it destroyed following complains of local residents.
But this year the district administration let work resume on modified plan.
"The [authorities] said at first they would send the new project to the city government by Feb. 15," Kovalyov said. "I filed some inquiries to Matviyenko and it's likely as a result of that they have postponed the project until June."
TITLE: Fingerprints Needed for U.S. Travel
AUTHOR: By Simone Kozuharov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Fingerpint scans will be taken of all Russian citizens applying for U.S. visas in St. Petersburg starting next month, consulate officials announced Thursday.
"This new procedure doesn't make it any more difficult to get a visa," U.S. Consul General James Pettit said at a news conference. The scans will enable U.S. border officials to confirm that the person entering the United States is who they say they are.
The procedure will be introduced in mid-February in St. Petersburg and will cost applicants no additional time, he said.
The scanning is simple and involves inserting the middle and index fingers in a reading device. The whole process takes between 20 and 30 seconds, Pettit said.
In December, scans were introduced in Moscow, where applicants have been able to complete the process while waiting for their interviews, he said.
"It's new technology. The passports and visas are kind of old-fashioned technology and you know that there are lots of counterfeiters and problems with people losing documents, faking them, etc."
Some people are exempt from the new requirements, Pettit said. Among them are those who do not have fingers or who are under 14 or older than 80. People who have lost some fingers will be able to use the remaining ones for the scan.
Those travelers exempt from the interview process will still be required to make a special appointment to have their prints scanned.
"Fingerprint scanning will be required for [citizens of] all countries by Oct. 26," Pettit said.
In the year between September 2002 and the same month last year, about 17,800 people applied for visas in the St. Petersburg consulate's catchment area in northwest Russia. The refusal rate was about 17.1 percent according to official statistics, or about 3,500 applicants. This was down from a 24.1 percent refusal rate the previous year.
This procedure is the latest in a series of new measures implemented by the U.S. government aimed at boosting security after lapses before the Sept. 11 2001 attacks.
Other measures include additional paperwork for male applicants over the age of 18 regarding specific types of military training.
Russia, in accordance with its reciprocity policy, also requires similar paperwork for Americans seeking Russian visas.
Pettit said the new procedure is not solely in reaction to the events on Sept. 11, but was conceived prior to the terrorist attacks.
"Even without Sept. 11, we had plans for additional protection," Pettit said. "But certainly the September events accelerated this process."
"This new procedure, though it was a controversial issue and caused negative reaction, is the most minor change in the procedure or the most minor obstacle for the applicants," he said.
Not all St. Petersburgers questioned Thursday in St. Isaac's Square about their view of the fingerprint scans agreed.
"No other country has it. It's as if America is special," Maria Frese, 22 said. "Total control is too much. Now we are in different times and [this procedure] won't save people from terrorists. They will devise everything to get to American territory by any other way."
Others seem to see both sides of the issue.
"If you are an honest person, it doesn't matter to you," Yan, 31, said. He declined to give his last name. But, "I think that while America struggles for order and discipline, it shouldn't forget that it is an example of democracy in the whole world. At least Americans say that, but I, as a Russian, don't think their behavior is democratic."
Some said they agreed with the new procedure and even found it necessary.
"I understand that not all people like it, but these measures are necessary," said Sergei Popov, 45. "And it will be good if other countries later also start to do it because it is a real measure that will help to fight terrorists and other jerks."
Nadezhda Maximovna, 65, agreed. "It should be done so that negative elements - criminals - don't go there. (It is necessary here) if Russia wants to bring everything to order."
Although Moscow was among the first 30 foreign posts to introduce the new requirement, "that simply has to do with the logistical arrangement of the installation team," Pettit said. "It has no underlying political or other reasons."
Some have raised concern over the privacy and security of the information and question the extent of the system's protection against outside interference.
"All our computer systems are pretty well protected, Pettit said.
He was not able to say how much the new equipment cost, but said it was not very expensive. "But the system of storing the data is pretty expensive."
TITLE: Virulent MyDoom Computer Virus Created in Russia
AUTHOR: By Simon Ostrovsky
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MyDoom, the fastest-proliferating computer virus ever, has been traced back to Russia.
Using location-sensing software, Kaspersky Labs have followed the first e-mails infected with MyDoom back to addresses with Russian Internet providers.
"It's scary, but most serious viruses are written in Russia," said Denis Zenkov, spokesman for Kaspersky, the country's largest anti-virus software company.
Ever since it first appeared Monday night, the virus has managed to latch onto every twelfth e-mail sent, slowing down Internet traffic around the world.
"This virus can only be compared to chemical warfare, an indiscriminate weapon of mass destruction," said Mikhail Yakushev, a legal expert for Microsoft in Russia.
MyDoom breaks a previous record set by the Sobig worm which infected one in every 21 messages at its peak last summer.
Most disturbing is that the virus gives its creators - or anybody who cracks the virus's code - the power to take control of an infected PC.
The virus has already infected 600,000 to 700,000 computers around the globe, Kaspersky Labs estimate.
And it has caused some $2 billion in losses worldwide, according to Computer Economics, an Internet monitoring company.
Thirteen percent of infected computers are in the United States, compared to a figure of under 1 percent for Russia, according to Kaspersky Labs.
"Russia usually does better fighting e-mail viruses than the United States because systems administrators are generally more competent here and install protection more quickly," said Zenkov.
Russia might be better prepared, but then it is often the source of server-stomping viruses, as in the case of MyDoom.
"We don't understand why, because usually programmers write viruses during an economic downturn when there is no work and nothing else to do," said Zenkov. "Right now there is plenty of work for Russian programmers."
The cause of damage is not primarily the virus's ability to take control of an infected computer and change information stored on the hard drive.
Instead, the virus wreaks havoc by sending itself to all the addresses stored inside an infected PC, exponentially increasing e-mail traffic and overloading web servers.
MyDoom spreads as an attachment to e-mails or as a file on the KaZaA file sharing system. It uses a multitude of file names, subject lines and file extensions making it difficult to notice.
When the infected attachment is opened, the virus automatically installs files in the computer's system, making it possible to use the computer as a proxy server for sending out future versions of the file and to take control of the computer itself.
"If the virus' creators don't send out an updated version of the virus it will be under control in the next few days," said Zenkov.
MyDoom is not the only virus traced to Russia. Dumaru and Mimail have also betrayed Russian origins.
But MyDoom has been the most problematic. One Utah-based software company, SCO, has gone so far as to offer $250,000 for any information leading to the arrest of the virus programmers.
SCO's web address is specifically targeted by the MyDoom. The virus is encoded to bombard SCO's web site with requests every 50 milliseconds starting on Feb. 1.
Such a huge volume of requests is almost certain to crash the company's server, causing huge financial losses.
SCO has branded MyDoom as "criminal activity that must be stopped."
In a statement on the company's web site, president and CEO Darl McBride said "we have our suspicions" as to the perpetrators. He did not elaborate.
SCO is one of the most ardent opponents of the open source code movement, which calls for software companies to make their programming code available to the public.
If convicted of creating or distributing harmful computer programs, hackers face up to seven years imprisonment under Russian law, according to Microsoft's Yakushev.
The Federal Security Service said it was not able to confirm immediately if a criminal investigation had been opened into the MyDoom case.
If it has, the FSB shouldn't look for some teen computer.
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Costly Clean Up Bill
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The ecological damage caused by activities of a military unit located outside the town of Gatchina in Leningrad Oblast made more than 18.5 million rubles ($650,000).
The Natural Resources Ministry calculated this figure when it inspected units of the Sixth Army of the Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Defense in the village of Voiskovitsy, Interfax reported Wednesday.
The inspection showed that over several years the unit did nothing to clean up the area after fuel oil leaks, and some filters were missing.
The case is undergoing an administrative investigation, after which the courts will reassess the damage.
Plea for Atomic Funds
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Leningrad Oblast Governor Valery Serdyukov, urged President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to hasten completion of construction of the Nuclear Physics Institute in the oblast, Interfax reported.
Serdyukov said $31.5 million is needed to complete construction. The governor urged Putin to provide more money, saying the sums of $7 million allocated annually from federal funds not enough to save the process from slowing down.
Air Rescue Plans
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The rescue service of Leningrad Oblast plans to organize a state aviation enterprise Aviaspasatel, or Air Rescue, service before 2006, Interfax reported.
"The aviation enterprise will probably be based at Rzhevka airport and will own one or two helicopters and two or three planes," said Sergei Shaposhnikov, head of Leningrad Oblast Emergency Situations and Civil Defense service, on Wednesday.
Shaposhnikov said the forming the aviation park will be done using contributions from the military and civilians.
Prosecutors Inspected
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The General Prosecutor's Office is to inspect the work of the St. Petersburg prosecutor's office before Feb. 9, Interfax reported on Wednesday, referring to Nikolai Vinchenko, prosecutor general of St. Petersburg.
At the city's prosecution collegium on the final results of the year Vinchenko said that in 2003 the number of registered crimes decreased in St. Petersburg by 17 percent. The total number of crimes recorded was 60,000, with every third crime was committed in public places.
He said the city prosecutors disciplined 267 police offices and initiated 14 criminal cases against them, the report said.
Passport Exchange
MOSCOW (SPT) - The Interior Ministry has extended the deadline for exchanging Soviet passports to Russian ones, Interfax reported Tuesday.
Sovet passports were to become null and void at the end of 2003, but an extension has been given until July 1 after several hundred thousand people did not receive their new passports in time, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin told Interfax.
He said the extension was only for those who did not receive their passports for a good reason.
Chess Not Devilish
MOSCOW (SPT) - The Russian Orthodox Church has rejected a request to brand chess as the "work of the devil," Itar-Tass reported.
A young believer in Yekaterinburg led a campaign and organized a petition claiming chess was the work of the devil. But Archbishop Wikenti turned down the appeal, saying "Chess is ... not a sin," Itar-Tass reported.
But "passionate games and arousing games that cause confusion, anger and irritation," are forbidden, he added. Klebanov on GDP
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Presidential envoy Ilya Klebanov said the Northwest Federal District will contribute to doubling GDP in the district by making full use of the region's scientific and technical potential and by developing processing, Interfax reported Wednesday.
In an interview published in Izvestia newspaper Wednesday, Klebanov said his office "pays special attention to economic development in the context of doubling GDP."
"This strategic task ... shows which industries need to be developed in which regions. The presidential envoy's office will help attract federal interest to these projects," Klebanov said.
Klebanov said the district could see growth thanks to companies supplying the defense industry.
"The Northwest has very large oil, gas and forestry reserves. But we should not turn into a source of raw materials for developed countries. Soon neighboring countries used to using us as a source of raw materials will start to build their processing plants here. It will become more profitable to process timber in Russia and export ready-made products because customs duties will soon be eliminated," Klebanov said.
City FDI Down 15%
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Foreign investment in St. Petersburg was down by 15 percent in 2003 according to preliminary estimates, Vladimir Blank, chairman of the city's committee on economic development, industrial policy and trade told journalists Tuesday.
The figure dropped to $750 million in 2003, Interfax reported Blank as saying.
Blank said the drop in foreign investment in 2003 was connected with poor investment climate and political instability due to the change in city leadership.
LOMO Ups Revenues
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The LOMO optics plant saw revenues increase five-fold in 2003 to 10 million rubles, Interfax quoted the plant's general director Arkady Kobitsky as saying Thursday at a press conference to open the plant's new civilian instrument facility.
Kobitsky said profits on sales were up by 38 percent and amounted to 1.76 billion rubles. Sales in the civilian sector were worth 560 million rubles, while the defense sector accounted for 890 million rubles. LOMO provided services worth 310 million rubles in 2003.
Debts reached 1.56 million rubles in 2003 with the share of foreign loans growing during the year. The figure was down to 500,000 rubles by Jan. 1, 2004.
Kobitsky said LOMO also saw a 30 percent growth in exports, mainly to Egypt, Israel, the United States and the CIS countries.
LOMO looks to receive 20 million rubles in net profits in 2004.
Ilim Pulp Investment
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Ilim Pulp Enterprise plans to buy imported wood processing equipment worth 27.4 million euros in 2004.
The company plans to spend 170 million euros to retrofit its wood processing facilities between 2003 and 2007.
Ilim Pulp owns the Ust-Ilimsky, Kotlass and Bratsky pulp and paper mills, the St. Petersburg cardboard and printing plant, several dozen wood processing plants, transport and retail subsidiaries, as well as paper plants.
Ilim Pulp companies produce 61 percent of the country's cellulose and 77 percent of the country's box cardboard.
Meat Plant Upgrades
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The Kronshtadtsky meat processing plant powered up the second phase of its new sausage line worth $5.4 million on Tuesday, Interfax reported.
The new line is equipped with German and Austrian machines in a 3,500 square meter facility. The line will produce 30 tons of meat products per day and will help boost the plant's share of the St. Petersburg meat market from 19 percent to 23 percent.
"St. Petersburg consumes between 320 and 350 tons of sausage products per day," Kronshtadtsky plant chairman of the board Alexei Popov said.
The company plans to invest an additional $20 million over the next three years in 15,000 square meters of production space and between $5 million and $7 million in a warehouse complex in St. Petersburg in 2005. Tough Inflation Target
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The State Statistics Committee said Thursday the government plan to lower 2004 inflation levels was hard to achieve and forecast continued high January price rises.
January is traditionally the month of highest inflation in the country as state-supported companies and organizations tend to spend the bulk of their funds at the end of the year. Prices for communal services, gas and electricity also tend to rise from the start of the new year.
"We are under no illusions. Inflation will be high this month, too," committee head Vladimir Sokolin told a news conference, but declined to give a specific level.
Risk Insurers Unfazed
LONDON (Reuters) - Political-risk insurers are not fleeing Russia in spite of the bitter and growing dispute between the government and one of the country's biggest private companies, a leading insurance broker said Wednesday.
The Yukos affair had not caused insurers to withdraw coverage from foreign firms looking to do business there, said a leading executive at Aon Corp., the world's second-largest insurance broker.
"If they thought it would be the start of an expropriation spree they would run a mile," said Martin Stone, director of Aon's Counter-Terrorism and Political Risk team, at a news conference to unveil the company's latest political and economic risk map.
But underwriters "are not terrified" by the case, he said. "They are aware there was a very particular set of circumstances."
Stepashin on Sell-Offs
MOSCOW (SPT) - The Audit Chamber's upcoming analysis of privatizations during the last 10 years will not put past sell-offs under revision, chamber president Sergei Stepashin told TNK-BP president Robert Dudley, RIA-Novosti reported.
Stepashin said that any reversal of privatizations was out of the question and that the upcoming study is meant to laud companies who have not violated the law, the agency reported.
UES '03 Dividend
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) - Unified Energy Systems, the national electricity company, will pay 2.21 billion rubles ($77.6 million) in dividends on 2003 earnings, Vedomosti reported, citing an unidentified UES official.
UES plans to report net income before dividend payments of 23.9 billion rubles, the newspaper said, citing the official.
An unidentified official in the Economic Development and Trade Ministry said the dividend was too high and asked the sum to be reduced, Vedomosti reported. The state owns 53 percent of UES.
Rouge Labor Vote
DETROIT (Bloomberg) - Union workers at a Rouge Industries Inc. steel plant in Dearborn, Michigan, voted Wednesday and Thursday on a labor contract with Severstal, which is buying the 80-year-old factory, the Detroit News said.
The proposed contract includes 400 job cuts and elimination of paid holidays during the first year, and a reduction in pension benefits for some employees, the newspaper said, citing officials of United Auto Workers Local 600.
Severstal, Russia's second-biggest steelmaker, needs the union concessions to obtain financing for the $285.5 million acquisition and to make the plant profitable, the newspaper said.
TITLE: Bellona LAES Report Worries Finnish MPs
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A report on security violations on the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, or LAES, released last week by environmental organization Bellona caused turmoil when it was considered by the environment committee of the Finnish Parliament on Tuesday, Bellona member and former LAES employee Sergei Kharitonov said Wednesday.
"The documents I tabled caused indignation [among deputies]," Kharitonov said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "There was a three-hour discussion about possible corruption in the Finnish inspection organization [STUK]. They spoke about the role of STUK in Russia and are considering ceasing to finance [this project] and initiating the shutdown of reactor No. 1."
While participating in parliamentary hearings on the issue this week, Kharitonov demonstrated a joint inspection release signed in 1996 by STUK, LAES management and AtomNadzor, the national inspectorate for nuclear facilities. It said technical conditions at the plant are fine, despite an independent evaluation saying the opposite.
"In March 1997, just four months after the security release was signed, STUK was involved in finding and fixing leaks from the [spent fuel] store in the building's containment tank," Kharitonov said. "Twenty-one leaks were found, but not all of them were fixed. All of them were registered by Finnish inspection organization."
The plant, located at Sosnovy Bor, 80 kilometers west of St. Petersburg, supplies the Northwest region and parts of Finland with electricity.
Reactor No. 1 is the oldest of four reactors at the plant and its official working life has expired, but the Nuclear Power Ministry is seeking to extend it. It is a RBMK-1000 reactor, the same type that caused the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
STUK has invested up to 7 million euros in work and safety equipment for the station since it started cooperating closely with the plant in 1992, STUK general director Jukka Laaksonen said last week.
Kharitonov said radioactive water leaking from the store going directly into the Gulf of Finland was detected in 2000. Forty-eight liters a day was going into the sea, he said.
Atomnadzor has registered the leak, but later said it had stopped of its own accord three days after it was found.
"It is impossible to check this information," Kharitonov said.
Members of the parliamentary committee are waiting for answers from the Finnish government to questions based on the Bellona report that the committee sent after Tuesday's discussion.
Committee spokeswoman Anne Hilden said that when it receives the answers, the committee will put concerns about LAES on the parliamentary agenda.
"Bellona critics say STUK doesn't really care about evidence of corruption at Sosnovy Bor," she said. The committee would press for reactor No. 1 to be shut down.
Both the Nuclear Power Ministry and STUK denied Kharitonov's accusations last week. LAES management said Kharitonov is acting for unnamed western interests that oppose Russia's national energy policy.
TITLE: Mariinsky Too Busy For Golden Mask Fest
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The Mariinsky Theater has withdrawn from this year's "Golden Mask", Russia's top annual theatrical awards and festival, citing its hectic touring and rehearsal schedule.
The decision, announced Wednesday, means that all Mariinsky's productions and artists nominated for this year's "Golden Mask" awards, will not participate in the festival.
"This year, the Mariinsky Theater is unable to perform the nominated works for the festival's jury neither in February, nor in March," said spokeswoman Oksana Tokranova. "The opera division has just returned from Baden-Baden, where it was touring with 'Der Ring des Nibelungen,' and will go on tour again - to Israel from Feb. 21 to March 2 with 'The Fiery Angel.'" Because the sets for "The Ring" are too heavy to be transported by air, they will travel by train which will take days, if not weeks, she added. The ballet division is rehearsing three one-act ballets by William Forsythe that will premiere during the International Ballet Festival at the Mariinsky in early March.
"The theater realizes the level of responsibility involved in that decision. We also regret that the performers' work will not be encouraged within the prestigious Russian theatrical award," the theater said in a statement.
The "Golden Mask" event is not new to cancellations. Last year, the Mariinsky's version of Mozart's opera "Cosi fan tutte" was removed from the schedule just weeks before the festival started.
The Mariinsky said it couldn't find a compromise that met its obligations abroad and attend the festival.
"It is difficult to work with the Mariinsky Theater, but [Mariinsky Artistic Director Valery] Gergiev and his troupe have enormous responsibilities and a titanic amount of work, especially connected with the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg," festival director Eduard Boyakov told The St. Petersburg Times last year . "Gergiev's theater is internationally acclaimed and, perhaps naturally, it is rather hard for our festival to compare with, say, a tour to Covent Garden and arrangements made with Placido Domingo."
But this year was worse, not better. Boyakov said the festival had proposed sending a juror to St. Petersburg to see the nominated shows - a departure from the regular practice, under which all nominees have to perform in Moscow within the festival's program.
Before the festival, the nominated production has be viewed by a juror. The "Golden Mask" jurors haven't seen "The Ring", and will not be able to before the festival starts. The Mariinsky had suggested the jury travel to Baden-Baden to watch "The Ring" and offered to fund the trip. None of the options satisfied both sides, and now the troupe is back from Baden-Baden.
This year, the Mariinsky had 14 nominations, with most of them for their rendition of the famous Wagner tetralogy, including, in particular, as best opera production, Gergiev as best conductor, Georgy Tsypin as best opera designer, Larissa Gogolevskaya as best female singer, Vladimir Vaneyev and Mikhail Petrenko as best male singers - all for their works in "Der Ring des Nibelungen."
The "Golden Mask" opens in Moscow on March 27 and runs until April 12.
TITLE: Icebreaker Staying in the City
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: The famed Russian icebreaker Krasin will remain in St. Petersburg, Vice Governor Sergei Tarasov said at the meeting of the city administration on Thursday.
"The end of the Krasin's status as a state-owned enterprise won't mean the ice-breaker will be going to Kaliningrad," Interfax quoted Tarasov as saying.
Tarasov said the change of status was obligatory under federal legislation.
The icebreaker Krasin, formerly known as the Svyatogor, was one of the first icebreakers in the world. Built in 1916, it was used to free ships trapped in ice and explore parts of the arctic ocean.
It participated in rescuing the Italian expedition of Umberto Nobile in 1928, and guided Arctic convoys supplying Murmansk during World War II.
In 1992 it became a museum and a monument to the city's shipbuilding history, attracting many tourists.
In 2002 the icebreaker came under the management of the World Ocean Museum, which is funded by the federal government and located in Kaliningrad. However, it was not owned by the museum.
St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko on Thursday ordered the ownership of the Krasin to be transferred to the museum within two weeks.
Tarasov said the transfer would triple the revenue available for the Krasin's upkeep.
In 2002-2003 Krasin received 3.5 million rubles ($115,000) from the city budget. This year the federal budget will allocate 9.4 million rubles to maintain it, he said.
However, it is not known where the Krasin will be moored.
For the last few years the Krasin was moored at 22 Naberezhnaya Leitenanta Shmidta, 22, next to Baltiisky Zavod.
At the administration meeting, the heads of the two city districts - Viktor Surikov of Kronstadt (located 30 kilometers west of St. Petersburg) and Alexander Yevstrakhin of the Vasileostrovsky district - fought for the right to locate the icebreaker on their territories, Interfax said. Tarasov said that the location of the icebreaker requires creating a mooring and deepening a channel for it, which would cost from 10 to 25 million rubles. Kronstadt already has moorings.
Svetlana Zaborovskaya, acting director of the Krasin museum, said Thursday that she had had no official communication about the fate of the vessel. Funding had been too little to maintain the ship and pay decent salaries to its 35 staff, she said, adding about 80,000 people visit the attraction each year.
TITLE: Five Candidates Have Signatures for Election
AUTHOR: By Oksana Yablokova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - Minutes after the deadline passed, elections chief Alexander Veshnyakov told reporters Wednesday evening that five presidential candidates had managed to submit the 2 million signatures needed to register their bids but warned that some may not make it onto the ballot for violations.
Liberal candidate Irina Khakamada and Rodina co-leader Sergei Glazyev delivered truckloads of signatures to the Central Elections Commission just hours before the deadline expired at 6 p.m. Signatures for the other three candidates - President Vlaidmir Putin, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov and Ivan Rybkin of the Boris Berezovsky-backed Liberal Russia party - were handed over earlier.
Also in the race are Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party and Oleg Malyshkin of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party. They did not need to submit signatures since their parties are represented in the State Duma, and the Central Elections Commission has already registered their candidacies.
Veshnyakov cautioned that the Central Elections Committee may not register all who made Wednesday's deadline, saying he was "treating seriously" recent reports on state television that some candidates' aides forged or offered bribes for signatures.
"There is evidence that a crime has been committed," Veshnyakov told reporters. "We have asked for the [television] tapes and asked the Moscow city prosecutor's office to investigate.
"We have no desire to remove candidates for no good reason, but at the same time we are not going to ignore clear violations and pretend that everything is in order."
Veshnyakov did not identify any of the candidates suspected of wrongdoing, but local media have suggested they are Khakamada, Glazyev and Rybkin. All three have denied this, and Khakamada, in defiant comments published Wednesday in Izvestia, said, "I am the cork flying out a bottle that has the will of the Russian people locked up inside."
Veshnyakov said the deadline came and went in "a working atmosphere." "The last days passed without hysterics," he said.
Dozens of experts and retirees - hired as cheap help - are already combing through the lists of signatures. By law, independent presidential candidates must submit 2 million to 2.5 million signatures to support their bids. The number of signatures declared invalid cannot be higher than 25 percent of the total.
Even if the verifiers sign off on the signatures, candidates can be denied registration if infractions are found in their income or property declarations.
The Central Elections Committee has 10 days to validate the signatures.
Veshnyakov said he will probably be able to tell whether Putin has qualified by Monday, while decisions over Khakamada and Glazyev will be made by Feb. 8.
Veshnyakov earlier said he expected no more than four to five names to make it on the ballot, but refrained from making any predictions Wednesday.
Putin remains far in the lead, according to a recent survey conducted by Yury Levada's Analytical Service, formerly known as VTsIOM-A. The poll of 1,600 Russians indicates that Putin would win some 79 percent of the vote if the election were held this Sunday.
Despite Putin's strong lead in what observers call a one-horse race, Veshnyakov said Wednesday that the campaign season would be filled with suspense.
"Elections are never boring affairs," he said. "There is intrigue not only around who will be first but who will be second. No one should assume that everything is preordained."
Two presidential candidates withdrew their bids this week. Flamboyant pharmaceutical businessman Vladimir Bryntsalov informed election officials Wednesday that he was out. Kaliningrad businessman Anzori Aksentyev pulled out Tuesday.
TITLE: President Marks Siege Anniversary in the City
AUTHOR: By Irina Titova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: President Vladimir Putin traveled to his hometown on Tuesday to take part in celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the lifting of the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad, an ordeal that severely affected his own family.
Thousands of people gathered at several city cemeteries, including the main one, Piskaryovskoye, where most of the siege victims were buried during World War II. Huge television screens erected all over St. Petersburg broadcast the Piskaryovskoye ceremony.
Cars, trams and buses came to a stop at 11:05 a.m. to honor the memory of the dead with a minute of silence.
Nazi troops closed a deadly ring around Leningrad - the Soviet-era name for what is now St. Petersburg - on Sept. 8, 1941. More than half a million city residents died during the siege, most from hunger.
The blockade became a powerful symbol of Soviet suffering and survival during World War II, which killed millions of Russians and remains the landmark event in the lives of many others, including Putin.
Putin's father was severely wounded while defending the city and his infant brother died of diphtheria during the siege. His mother nearly starved to death; Putin told reporters Tuesday that his father had saved his mother by giving her part of his hospital rations.
"Every Leningrad family has such a claim [of losses] in the war," Putin said after laying red roses at the place where his father is said to have been wounded.
Putin sent a letter to 286,000 siege survivors for what he called "a sacred holiday for all Russians."
"Your heroism, will for life and faith in the victory won the gratitude of the Russian people," he wrote, according to Itar-Tass.
TITLE: MIG Landing Gear Was Up
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: An air force general landed his MiG fighter jet on its belly after having forgotten to put its landing gear down and ejected to safety when the aircraft scraped the airstrip, officials said Wednesday.
"The pilot forgot to put the landing gear down," air force chief Colonel-General Vladimir Mikhailov said Wednesday on NTV television.
Mikhailov said that empty additional fuel tank that was suspended under the fighter's fuselage helped cushion the impact, and the aircraft suffered minimal damage during Tuesday's landing at a military airbase in the southern Rostov region.
Air force spokesman Colonel Alexander Dobyshevsky said earlier Wednesday that the plane's pilot, Lieutenant-General Yury Komissarov, ejected immediately upon touchdown on ground controllers' order to avoid the risk of fire.
Komissarov is in charge of an air force group in the Rostov region.
TITLE: Pharmacy Invades Moscow
AUTHOR: By Roman Kutuzov and Andrei Musatov
PUBLISHER: Vedomosti
TEXT: A St. Petersburg pharmacy chain has done something regional players don't usually do: it has acquired a foothold in Moscow.
With the purchase this week of the smaller Moscow chain Narodnaya Apteka, Natur Produkt will be the country's absolute leader in terms of number of outlets, with 153 pharmacies in 20 regions.
Founded in 1993 in St. Petersburg, Natur Produkt is now a holding with companies in many Russian cities and abroad. It is 40 percent owned by EBRD investment funds managed by the Quadriga and Russia Partners companies.
In addition to running one of the country's largest pharmacy chains, Natur Produkt manufactures medicines and biologically active agents at plants in France and the Netherlands and distributes pharmaceuticals. According to internal reports, revenues stand at about $100 million per year with 27 percent of this sum coming from the pharmacies.
Natur Produkt chairman of the board Sergei Nizovtsev said his company acquired the Narodnaya Apteka chain in Moscow for $2.5 million.
Narodnaya Apteka, a relatively small pharmacy chain by Moscow standards, consists of nine retail outlets. Nizovtsev said the newly acquired pharmacies will be renovated during the next three months to reflect the Natur Produkt style. However, the Moscow stores will not have the open-space set up which is the latest rage with pharmacy retailers. Nizovtsev said the existing layout of the Moscow stores allows only for the traditional display-and-counter selling method.
With these nine shops as a launching pad, the company plans to boost their number to 20 and is shooting for overall revenues of between $5 million and $6 million in Moscow.
Natur Produkt is also the leader in regional coverage. The closest competitor is Samara's Imploziya with about 140 pharmacies in just six regions.
But Natur Produkt is not resting on its laurels. Nizovtsev says the company is on the verge of concluding an agreement for the purchase of six pharmacies in Voronezh. By the end of the year he hopes to have 200 pharmacies throughout the country.
"Buying a chain is a quick and easy way of entering a new market," said Sergei Luknin, commercial director at St. Petersburg's Pervaya Pomoshch chain of pharmacies. "But we know from experience that opening pharmacies in place of an old chain requires overcoming consumers' stereotypes."
Luknin says the Moscow pharmacy market has not yet reached saturation. He estimates that in Moscow there is one pharmacy for every 10,000 to 15,000 citizens, but the figure stands at 5,000 in St. Petersburg. So he isn't surprised by Natur Produkt's foray into the Moscow market.
"It's good that another large, civilized player is entering the Moscow market," Farmekspert market study center executive director Nikolai Demidov said. It is the first example of a pharmaceutical chain coming from one of the regions to the capital, he said. "And it might be the last," he added. "Usually regional chains do the opposite: they sit and wait for the Muscovites to acquire them," Demidov said.
Analyst Sirma Gotovats, general director of Remedium, thinks the St. Petersburg chain's acquisition of Narodnaya Apteka should ease Natur Produkt's entry into the Moscow market. "They would not have had enough resources to buy a large chain, and it would have taken too long to open their own. They would have had to spend time on getting licenses and other formalities," she said.
There is room on the Moscow market for major players, said Artyom Bektemirov, general director of Aptechnaya Set 36.6, which operates about 60 pharmacies. But he doubts Natur Produkt is up to the task. Bektemirov said to get a serious start, a new pharmacy chain would require "investments of another order."
TITLE: Hotels and Theaters Promote City Image
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Is St. Petersburg the place to be in winter? As recently as a year ago the question was likely to evoke a skeptical smile, but new occupancy figures from the leading St. Petersburg hotels show that the city is becoming more popular in the holiday season.
Margarita Pogosova, PR manager at the Radisson SAS Hotel, said occupancy was 100 percent there. Viktoria Gorbunova, PR and marketing manager at the Angleterre Hotel, said occupancy reached 92 percent during the holiday season.
"On Dec. 31, 2003, only 16 out of the Angleterre's 193 rooms weren't occupied," Gorbunova said, adding that over the past two years average occupancy in the hotel in December has increased dramatically - from 29 percent to 67 percent.
At the Astoria Hotel, average occupancy in December was 50 percent - a 15 percent increase over last year. But during the New Year, the figures jumped to 95 percent, said Yekaterina Zemtsova, the Astoria's PR and marketing manager.
At the Corinthia Nevskij Palace, average occupancy during the period from Dec. 28 to Jan. 7 increased this year by up to 15 percent over last year. "In Dec. 2001-Jan. 2002 we had about 38 percent to 40 percent occupancy. The next year the figure reached 45 percent, but this year occupancy went up to 60 percent," Corinthia Nevskij Palace PR director Natalya Belik said.
Belik pointed to an increase in the number of groups. The Corinthia Nevskij Palace had three groups in the period of Dec. 28-Jan. 7 two years ago, and four groups last holiday season, but this year the hotel had nine groups during that period.
Others related this year's success to current events.
"The year 2003 in general has been very successful for the Grand Hotel Europe. We had 100 percent occupancy," said the hotel's PR manager Anna Brodova. "The high season lasted much longer. Many tourists who couldn't come in summer didn't cancel their trips but came in autumn instead."
Astoria director of sales and marketing Ala Osmond said 2003 was an excellent year for the hotel, "with the hotel's occupancy figures going up by 27 percent compared to 2002 in the period from May to December."
Leading St. Petersburg hotels team up with the city's famous cultural institutions to draw more tourists to the city.
Thus, the idea of the International Ballet Festival at the Mariinsky Theater emerged four years ago during a conversation between the theater's director Valery Gergiev and Sir Rocco Forte, owner of the Astoria Hotel. The Astoria has since been an official partner of the ballet festival, while other leading hotels offer special packages which include tickets to the Mariinsky Theater, the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum. According to Mariinsky spokeswoman Oksana Tokranova, foreigners who purchased such packages from hotels account for about 50 percent of the audience during the ballet festival. During last year's festival, seven percent of all guests at the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel purchased the Mariinsky package.
In 2003, the International Ballet Festival was held in February, but this year the program will start March 5.
"The festival is very popular with our guests," Zemtsova said. "We have large groups of tourists coming specially for the event." As the ballet festival's partner, the Astoria organizes exclusive special events for hotel guests. "This year, on March 14, at the end of the festival, we are organizing a grand gala reception with the festival's stars at the hotel," Zemtsova said. Most of the dancers coming to the ballet festival also stay at the Astoria.
The International Arts Square Festival, launched five years ago by maestro Yury Temirkanov, has become another top cultural event in St. Petersburg's winter season. This season the festival ran from Dec. 28 to Jan. 7.
The Grand Hotel Europe, an official partner of the Arts Square Festival, this year offered a special three-day package known as "Winter Melodies of St. Petersburg" while the festival was on. Costing $713, the package included standard accommodation for one, a ticket to the Shostakovich Philharmonic, transfers from and to the airport and a New Year's gift.
St. Petersburg's top hotels - the Astoria, Grand Hotel Europe, Radisson SAS, the Angleterre and Corinthia Nevskij Palace - have already put forward a joint project to promote St. Petersburg during the winter season. The White Days program - billed as a winter version of the already popular White Nights which has a summer festival at the Mariinsky Theater - was launched in winter 2001-2002 to offer visitors discounted cultural package deals that include food, lodging, tickets to the Mariinsky Theater or Hermitage Museum and taxi service to and from the airport.
"The hotels have invested a lot of resources and effort in promoting the White Days," the Astoria's Zemtsova said. "We organized promotional trips to Munich and London in October 2003 to present the program to foreign journalists. The presentations attracted considerable interest in St. Petersburg as a travel destination, and that confirmed that we are moving in the right direction," she said.
The White Days promotion has already proven successful. The number of tourists who purchased White Days packages from the Grand Hotel Europe went up by 46 percent in the 2002-2003 season as compared to the 2001-2002 season.
"The jubilee was a springboard for the city of St Petersburg, generating far more interest in the destination from around the world," the Astoria's Osmond said. "Entering 2004, we need to further develop the reputation of the city and continue to promote tourism in the White Days season with the joint efforts of every business involved in the inbound travel sector," she said.
The Angleterre's Gorbunova said the 300th anniversary promotion of St. Petersburg has already had a lasting effect. "Tourists are now more inspired by the city and find it attractive in winter as a result of a successful PR campaign abroad," she said.
Belik of the Corinthia Nevskij Palace says many foreigners are drawn to the city by sumptuous winter balls thrown in famous St. Petersburg palaces, for example the Temirkanov Ball at the Yusupov Palace and the Tsar's Ball at the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo.
Olga Vasilieva, a manager at caterer Potel&Chabot, which organizes both balls along with a number of other winter entertainment events, concurs. She said most guests at the Temirkanov Ball, which was first organized five years ago, were Russians. Now foreign guests are in the majority. "The Tsar's Ball, which we do in cooperation with Baltic Travel Agency, is specifically arranged for foreign guests," Vasilieva said. "It is always sold out and there is demand for more tickets."
According to Vasilieva, the 300th-anniversary celebrations boosted the image of St. Petersburg around the globe and have had a very positive impact on her business in particular.
"We have already received multiple orders from foreign companies to organize entertainment events or conferences in St. Petersburg, with many events specifically in winter... and everyone is just raving about the jubilee festivities; everyone seems to have watched them on television," Vasilieva said.
But as the Corinthia's Belik points out, the city needs a consistent and effective policy developed by City Hall in cooperation with industry players for tourism to thrive in St. Petersburg.
Sergei Korneyev, director of the northwestern branch of the Russian Association of Travel Agents, or RATA, believes now is the time for St. Petersburg to take promoting itself more seriously. "There is no city policy on winter tourism at all. St. Petersburg has been exploiting its already popular White Nights image, not investing in new marketing ideas," Korneyev said. "But new projects, even if developed by private businesses, should be promoted by the city, if, that is, the city is interested in results."
According to research by the World Tourism Organization, every dollar invested into promoting a tourist destination subsequently yields between $6 and $15 in profits.
"Yes, the five star hotels can afford the White Days and all the necessary promotion, but what about the smaller fish?" Korneyev said. "The city seems to have forgotten about budget hotels. But according to international practice, the city should go 50-50 with businesses on promotion projects."
Larisa Ropotova, head of Fremad Russia travel agency, concurs. She said the city has never been a generous sponsor of its tourism infrastructure or promotion campaigns. Such campaigns are largely funded by private companies.
"The budget of the tourism committee has never been something to brag about," Ropotova said. "The lion's share of city promotion has been routinely funded by the travel agencies and other market players at their own expense. The loser, in the end, will be the city."
While hotels and travel agencies are hoping for greater cooperation with the city, such hopes are largely unrealistic: the St. Petersburg administration is simply too short on funds in the post-jubilee year.
The city budget for tourism development in 2004 has been cut by more than 80 percent, from 35 million rubles to just 6 million rubles ($200,000), not a large sum for a city that earns a large but uncalculated part of its income from tourists.
Despite all the promotion for the 300th anniversary last year and huge numbers of people arriving for the festivities, the city budget is already in the red this year.
In 2002, the Legislative Assembly passed a law on development of the local tourism industry through the year 2005, earmarking 30 million rubles to be spent on tourism development in 2003, and 35 million rubles in 2004. Last year, the projected amount arrived safely.
Pavel Fenin, a leading expert on tourism issues for the city legislature, believes the St. Petersburg administration tends to underestimate the importance of tourism development and promotion projects. He says an efficient mechanism of calculating how much the city earns from tourism specifically has yet to be developed.
"The administration hasn't been able to see a clear connection between funding of such projects and an increase in the number of tourists," he said. "They seem to believe the city itself is so great that people will come here anyway."
TITLE: Powell Talks High-Tech, Dollar
AUTHOR: Combined Reports
TEXT: MOSCOW - U.S. corporate representatives in Russia asked visiting U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to ease restrictions on high-technology trade, calling it key to business development in the country.
"What we'd like to see is a more flexible attitude on high- tech cooperation," Andrew Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said after meeting Powell Tuesday in Moscow. "We think part of the U.S. government approach on high-tech is partly a hangover from the Cold War."
Problems include visa restrictions that delay or prevent travel to the U.S. by workers on high-technology ventures, even U.S. government-approved projects, and restrictions imposed by both the U.S. and Russian governments on the flow of high- technology products, Somers said.
Such rules could hinder expansion plans by companies that include Intel and Microsoft, which have tried to cut costs by moving research and design operations to countries such as Russia and India where engineers and software programmers are cheaper to employ than in leading industrial nations.
President Vladimir Putin has said his country needs to stimulate manufacturing industries to reduce the economy's dependence on oil, gas and metals.
Powell met privately with about 50 representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia at the end of a four-day visit to Russia and Georgia.
Powell told the chamber, which has 700 member companies, that the Bush administration recognizes the need to ease visa restrictions on U.S. companies at the same time it tries to guard against terrorism.
Also on Tuesday, Powell said the dollar is still a good investment, in an interview broadcast by Ekho Moskvy radio station.
"The dollar is responding to financial market conditions," Powell told the radio station. "I would say to listeners that I continue to consider the dollar still to be a good investment."
The euro rose against the dollar in Asia Tuesday amid speculation the United States won't heed European calls to address the 12-nation common currency's yearlong 15 percent advance at a meeting of the Group of Seven countries.
(Bloomberg, AP)
TITLE: Potanin Proposes Small, Medium Business Union
AUTHOR: By Alex Fak
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: MOSCOW - The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, or RSPP, commonly known as "the oligarchs' union," has announced that it wants to merge with two associations devoted to small and medium-sized businesses.
"The ideology of the business community must be built on the understanding that Russian business is a united, national force," Vladimir Potanin, owner of the Interros holding and an RSPP board member, wrote in a letter to the union's president Arkady Volsky, suggesting a merger.
The RSPP press service quoted Volsky as supporting a merger with Opora Russia, which represents small and medium-sized firms, and Business Russia (Delovaya Rossia), which pools medium-sized businesses.
The announcement caught the two less powerful business groups off guard.
"For now, we won't comment.... We are approaching this pretty carefully," said Svetlana Nogumanova, spokeswoman for Opora.
The group's president Sergei Borisov is in Switzerland leading an Opora delegation, she said. "That's where he first heard of this."
Business Russia heard rumors about the proposed merger but only learned of Potanin's letter Thursday morning, said spokesman Vadim Vorobyov.
Business Russia issued a statement saying that it will form a working group to consider the merger "seriously."
But it also remained cautious on details, saying it would take an "initiative in offering the boards of RSPP and Opora a concrete, gradual mechanism for the creating of a united organization."
Both groups demanded that the interests of small and medium sized-businesses be represented in any merger.
The news left outside observers speculating on the reasons behind Potanin's proposal.
Some said a union with smaller business associations would bring RSPP legitimacy in popular eyes. "The prestige of being designated an oligarch is no longer what it used to be in Russia," said William Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital Management.
"The RSPP has historically been known as an association of oligarchs. It would be a wise move to distance themselves from that image, given the current political climate," Browder said.
Two weeks ago, NTV Namedni program ran a report on the posh holiday celebrations of Potanin and other oligarchs at the French ski resort of Courchavel.
The image of partying oligarchs produced a negative "emotional response in society" on a par with billionaire Roman Abramovich's purchase of Chelsea soccer club last summer, said Kremlin-connected analyst Sergei Markov.
"Since one of the biggest accusations is that the oligarchs are not putting money into their own country, it's become an apt time for Potanin to think about the fate of his country," Markov said.
TITLE: The Logic of Extinction
AUTHOR: By Lilia Shevtsova
TEXT: Russia is once more frustrating all attempts at classification. Not so long ago the country was described as a managed, electoral democracy.
Such definitions, based on a distinction between developed and undeveloped democracies, held out hope that with a little hard work Russia could become a full-fledged democracy, or at least that it could be regarded as a special model of democracy. But following the collapse of communism and Boris Yeltsin's three "revolutions" - overturning the state, the political regime and the form of ownership - Russia is reverting to the tried and true.
Yesterday's optimists now guardedly describe Russia as a hybrid society. This gives rise to three important questions: What sort of hybrid is this? Does Vladimir Putin's hybrid differ from Yeltsin's? And is Putin's hybrid capable of reform?
In the 1990s a unique political structure took shape in Russia. It combined the personification of power that has existed for centuries with the legitimacy afforded by a democratic institution - elections - that represents both continuity and a break with the past.
The fusion of diametrically opposed principles-autocracy and elections-makes this structure inherently unstable. It can only survive by passing from one political regime to the next, altering its rhetoric and its power base.
The Yeltsin years made clear that an underdeveloped democracy cannot be consolidated when it is called upon to form an autocratic regime. The attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable degrades the democratic process. It leads society to believe that Russia isn't ready for democracy, and consequently that we need an iron fist to compensate for a lack of competitiveness.
The Putin regime has confirmed the logic of personified power, which inevitably moves to control the electoral process as the only available way to guarantee its longevity. The more the regime manipulates elections, however, the more it undermines the basis of its own legitimacy.
The denizens of the Kremlin may think they are bolstering their hold on power, but in fact they are placing a bomb under the throne.
Mikhail Gorbachev fell victim to unforeseen circumstances when he grafted elections on to the Soviet system and ensured its self-destruction. The current administration's intervention into the electoral process is having a similar effect.
The threat to the legitimacy of the presidential election caused by the Kremlin's steamrolling of the opposition last fall should serve as a warning to Putin that the electoral component of his regime is on the verge of collapse.
Should that happen, to stay in power the president would have little choice but to resort to authoritarian rule. But this would not necessarily restore order to society.
Yeltsin's hybrid differed from Putin's in that it was built on the mutual wink and nudge, constant shocks and political bartering - handing out power in exchange for loyalty.
It was under Yeltsin that the regime began to bend democratic institutions to the purpose of maintaining its hold on power. In practice, this meant strengthening the hand of the family and the oligarchs.
Putin built his regime on subordination and the re-centralization of power. He became the leader of a consolidated bureaucracy. On Putin's watch, electoral autocracy has given way to bureaucratic authoritarianism. The Kremlin's decimation of the democratic and liberal minority in the State Duma elections and the forceful resolution of its conflict with big business testify to the return of a traditional state that imposes its will on society. And as left-wing nationalists assume the role of chief opposition to the Kremlin, Russia will be hard pressed to contain this authoritarian impulse.
The fact that Russia is still a long way from becoming a police state offers cold comfort. The current regime does not possess the resources necessary to support a dictatorship.
And Putin doesn't act like a dictator. But the erosion of democratic legitimacy will force the regime to clamp down. The weaker it feels, the more it will be tempted to rely on the whip.
The clear definition of power does have its positive aspects. When the cloak of democracy is finally removed, the opposition will be better able to define itself in turn.
A regime built on the executive chain of command is stable only when that chain functions flawlessly, and that can be achieved only with fear and violence.
Should subordination weaken even slightly, or should fear of the Kremlin disappear, the chain would break. A regime like this inevitably loses touch with reality and becomes incompetent.
The fact that the organizing structures of Russian society all hinge on the president's popularity is a cause of great concern. If his poll numbers plummet, they will drag the entire system down with them.
Is this sort of regime capable of modernizing the country? Yes, if we're talking about industrializing a rural society. But Russia now faces the challenges of the post-industrial world. This requires that the internal sources of growth be freed up, and that is impossible without expanding political freedom. A corrupt and bureaucratic authoritarianism will produce only irresponsibility and decay.
The country's future depends on how quickly society takes control of the power of the state. Systemic reform on that scale has never been achieved during a period of stability, however, especially when the political class has a stake in maintaining the status quo and society, rocked by years of turmoil, opts for order above all else.
The absence of a democratic, liberal alternative must also be taken into consideration. The current regime, with its fondness for authoritarianism and the market, now faces a rising tide of opposition from the patriotic left. In other words, Russia is torn between two traditional ideologies, right and left.
For now, absolute power is riding on high oil prices and the popular belief in Russia's great-power status.
It may well be that Russia will have to follow this road to the end, until the illusions about the potential of modernized authoritarianism are exhausted. Then again, society may soon grow fed up with this transitional phase. Should that happen, much will depend on who - big business, a faction within the ruling elite or the democratic minority - steps forward with a viable alternative.
The course of Russian democracy will present a challenge to the West as well, for without the transformation of Russia the community of industrialized nations will never be truly stable or secure.
Lilia Shevtsova, a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, contributed this comment to Vedomosti.
TITLE: Let's Hear It For The Mariinsky
TEXT: The World Economic Forum brings together a strong sampling of the people who shape the world we live in. Not just people who make companies, governments and international organizations tick, but people who through their writings and teachings influence the way the world thinks.
The face Russia presents in Davos reflects the face it presents to the world, and the treatment Russia receives there reflects how it is viewed in the world.
The conclusion after this year's five-day forum is that the world no longer cares as much about Russia. For instance, the featured speaker, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, did not mention Russia during his address on Saturday. Only in response to a question about the prospects for success in ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons did he refer to Russia, naming it, last, as one of the countries the United States was working with toward this goal.
The message, as distilled by Strobe Talbott, is that Russia matters to the U.S. government mainly in terms of its cooperation in fighting nuclear proliferation and terrorism. What is happening inside the country is less interesting.
As illustration of Russia's demotion, there was just one dinner at Davos devoted to Russia, and fewer people than expected signed up.
But what was worse was that the issues that many people still do care about went un-addressed or unanswered, especially by the man billed as the leader of the Russian delegation, Alexei Kudrin.
After arriving at the dinner late - a no-no in a place that runs on Swiss time - he gave a speech that harked back to Soviet days in both content and form. Some, seated at a safe distance from the head table, could be seen rolling their eyes.
Asked to comment on the Yukos case - the issue on everybody's mind - Kudrin said to wait for the decision of the court. Asked about state control over television after Vladimir Pozner expressed serious concern, he said he had no information on this either.
Kudrin spoke Russian, which was only an inconvenience at the Russia dinner while we waited for the bouncy translator to finish, but two days later at a panel on emerging markets it bordered on embarrassing. Those representing Brazil, China and India not only spoke English but made an effort to engage each other and those who came to hear what they had to say. Kudrin sat quietly listening to the discussion through headphones.
If he is the best the Kremlin had to send, that speaks volumes.
It was left to Valery Gergiyev and the Mariinsky orchestra, in a concert on the final evening, to show the world what is still right about Russia.
TITLE: City Television Station Past Its Heyday
AUTHOR: By Vladimir Kovalev
TEXT: City Hall's Channel Five television station is planning a facelift that is to be unveiled April 1. Station management is searching for new staff and checking thousands of CVs to find presenters for brand new shows.
I hear that the management intends to build a new sort of television, that, they say, will be energetic and interesting for viewers.
I will be glad if this is what happens to Channel 5. At the end of the 1980s this television was a leading outlet for balanced information, not only for the city, but also for other regions of Russia. It presented tens of millions of people with a new kind of television spawned by perestroika. It really was the best in the whole country with programs such as Gorodskoi Kurier broadcasting interesting and up-to-the-minute news from around the city or Musical Ring, on which many people had their first opportunity to see national rock stars that were banned by the Soviet authorities.
It was like a breath of fresh air to Soviet citizens used to a bland diet of aged officials' pronouncements.
But this fresh approach lasted only until the new people in power realized how damaging television could be for their interests. They understood how harmful it could be if it was not controlled and how useful it is if totally dependent on those in power. As soon as authorities got the idea, Channel 5 started to turn into gray-type television. It became more and more boring and served merely as a political tool for Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and later for Governor Vladimir Yakovlev.
When Yakovlev was pushed out from his position to work as a deputy prime minister in Moscow, the channel's staff was ready to serve the interests of the new governor, Valentina Matviyenko. The staff have become accustomed to switching position every time there is a change at the top of City Hall.
These days Petersburgers call the station gradusnik, or thermometer, because the only interesting and useful thing left on the channel is an rubric that shows the outside temperature on the screen. I heard that the rubric will no longer be displayed when the revamped station is relaunched.
When I see how state-owned channels Pervy Kanal, formerly ORT and Rossia, formerly RTR, operate it seems to me that viewers shouldn't expect a lot when switching their dials to Petersburg Television on April 1.
Their coverage on Tuesday of the commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the final breaking of the siege of Leningrad were a very bright example. Instead of showing those who actually suffered during the siege or those who fought in it, the state channels devoted most of their coverage to President Vladimir Putin's visit to St. Petersburg to meet the State Council and discuss social issues.
I watched all of the main news channels that evening and the only channel that had something worth watching was NTV, which reported on Putin's meeting with veterans. The channel was brave enough to show the president struggling to find a synonym for the word "sex" at the meeting.
Pervy Kanal's report worked in Putin's favor by showing his father's military registration card to underline the fact that he was defending the city during the siege and was injured.
In the light of the fawning, non-critical approach of the national electronic media, is seems unlikely Channel 5 has any chance to adopt a face that will be pretty enough to lure viewers.
It can introduce some reality shows or put new hosts on information programs, but it is very unlikely people will see something looking anything like the BBC.
The British television and radio corporation is financed by taxpayers. It acts so independently that it got caught up in a political scandal with Tony Blair for questioning the British government's statements about the urgency of going to war with Iraq. I am sure that sounds like science fiction to the state television editors.
For this reason the only thing left to do is to live nostalgically, remembering the late 1980s when Petersburg Television was a source of new ideas and objective information.
TITLE: gallery's experiments in sound
AUTHOR: By Sergey Chernov
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: When the local club scene is sleepy recovering after boisterous weekends, there are a whole lot of sounds, from gentle to thunderous, coming from a room on the roof in the well-known Pushkinskaya 10 arts center.
Hidden in the yard of the infamous building, GEZ-21 promotes concerts by all kinds of off-the-wall musicians, from ethnic to noise and industrial, on Mondays and Tuesdays.
GEZ-21 stands for "Gallery of Experimental Sound," inheriting number "21" from Gallery 21, the GEZ founders' former enterprise - which gained international fame when it was launched in 1994 as Russia's first arts center devoted to multi-media art. As time passed gallery grew to include the Cyber-Femin Club, which is still in existence.
As Gallery 21 and the Cyber-Femin Club, GEZ-21 is part of Pushkinskaya 10, the arts center that emerged from a former squat occupied by underground artists and musicians in 1993.
"At one time, the male part of the Cyber-Femine Club, Sergei Busov and [noise composer] Nikolai Sudnik, wanted to get into music, and we invested a portion of the feminists' grant money into P.A. system and stuff," GEZ-21 "hostess" Irina Aktuganova said.
GEZ-21 was launched in 1999 and moved into its current rooms after the Pushkinskaya 10 building was reconstructed in 2000.
"As a noise composer, Sudnik wanted to promote young noise acts who had no place to play.
"And in 1999-2000 there appeared a whole number of noise acts some of which grew bigger and now play at Red Club, Orlandina and Stary Dom.
"So our prerogative is to discover new talents," Aktuganova said.
Since then the venue has expanded its repertoire to include young electronic acts and just about any music that is not immediately popular. "It's any music that demands some work, some effort to listen to."
This week at the venue, the avant-garde jazz duo of trombone player Shamil Shatsutdinov and drummer Alexander Ragazanov were performing. Visitors quietly relaxed in the modest art bar located in a separate room.
The turn of the decade took the club's activities to slightly broader audiences.
"What Gallery 21 was doing was interesting for a rather narrow circle of professionals, cyberfeminism was purely exotic, and GEZ initially worked for musicians themselves.
But in 2001 we took the decision to open up and find our own public."
GEZ-21's website describes the club's direction as "the cultural opposition to the bourgeois mainstream, the civilized underground."
"The word 'underground' and 'alternative' don't mean much, it's nothing but a brand now, but we're alternative to the values of the middle-class," said Aktuganova.
The art bar which was added in 2000, after GEZ-21 moved to its current premises, helps support the venue financially, according to Aktuganova.
"The music program is not commercial, so you can't make money on concerts by experimental musicians," she added.
On Saturday the bar turns into a philosophical cafe, holding lectures and disputes on subjects ranging from feminism to flashmobbing.
The entrance fee for live concerts is usually cheap, from 50 to 100 rubles, except for better known acts that are brought in when the venue finds itself on the edge of a financial abyss.
Nevertheless, the range of musical and social phenomena covered by the club's program is wide enough, including such diverse events as the annual Beatle Christmas party promoted by Beatle enthusiast Kolya Vasin and the S&M party organized by the local BDSM community in Jan. 2003.
GEZ-21, or Gallery of Experimental Sound, is located at 10 Pushkinskaya Ulitsa (entrance from 53 Ligovsky Prospekt), M: Ploshchad Vosstaniya. Tel. 164 52 58, 164 52 63. Links: www.tac.spb.ru
TITLE: opera mixes frivolity, melancholy
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: One of the most theatrical operas ever written, Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos", which contrasts melancholy and frivolity and brings together operatic art with commedia dell'arte, will make its Mariinsky Theater theatrical debut on Monday.
The opera which first saw the stage in Stuttgart in October 1912 has never been staged at the Mariinsky but was performed in concert version several times over the past two years.
The production is staged by Frenchman Charles Roubaud, who is responsible for three Mariinsky's productions, all highly acclaimed - Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila", Verdi's "La Traviata" and Puccini's 'Turandot".
"Its theatricality makes this opera much more conventional, which in turn, makes my work both more challenging and more exciting," said soprano Milana Butayeva, who will sing the roles of Primadonna (in the prologue) and Ariadna (in the opera).
"Rehearsals are huge fun for all of us," Butayeva said. "It is a very lively and jolly experience, bringing up all those things one would hate in an opera diva: affectation, pretentiousness, and snobbery [in the character of Primadonna]."
"Ariadne auf Naxos" is a one-act opera, although a lengthy one, lasting for two hours. In the prologue, the Composer [sung by a soprano] is forced to bring commedia dell'arte characters into his serious opera about Ariadne. In the actual opera Ariadne longing for death and indulging in melancholy meets her opposite, the flirtatious comedienne Zerbinette, who has little sentiment about men, who is trying to convert Ariadne towards her philosophy of love.
The director and his team are making as much use of the Mariinsky's stage as possible. "In the Prologue, there are no sets: they are mounted as the show goes on," said Roubaud's assistant Jean-Christophe Mast. " The audiences will see the electricians and cleaners doing their work ... In terms of the concept, the main issue in the Prologue is to explore the possibility of juxtaposing serious opera and commedia dell'artewithin one work of art."
In the Prologue the singers will not be dressed in stage costumes but will be wearing casual clothes. But in the opera itself the opposition between comedic and operatic characters will be emphasized through their dressing style, in order to reflect their respective philosophies.
"Everything has been so carefully thought out: the tail of my jacket actually makes my gait for me," Butayeva said.
Butayeva believes that "Ariadne auf Naxos" tells you much more about theater and hypocricy than about life and relationships. "I have to say that personally I am drastically different from the languid, somewhat flimsy Ariadne - I am much more into Lady Macbeth kinds of characters - and therefore I find this whole experience hugely enriching but also amusing," the singer said.
Throughout the opera the tension between two philosophies, two attitudes towards love and fidelity, is tangible. "Tragedy and comedy go hand in hand," Mast said. "When Ariadne's vision confronts that of Zerbinetta the tension reaches its apogee."
But the grotesque and elements of opera buffa make the confrontation a lively, humorous and most enjoyable experience.
The main roles will be sung by Butayeva, Anastasia Belyayeva, Nadezhda Serdyuk, Marina Shaguch, Larisa Yudina, Avgust Amonov, Sergei Skorokhodov, Andrei Popov, Valery Lebed and Vladimir Tyulpanov.
"Ariadne auf Naxos premieres at the Mariinsky Theater on Feb. 2. Links: http://www.mariinsky.ru. For ticket information, call the Mariinsky's ticket box at: 114-43-44.
TITLE: chernov's choice
TEXT: One World Beat, the global music festival raising money for children with AIDS, wants musicians in Russia, wrote Mark Roach, the festival's communications manager in a letter this week.
One World Beat, the festival that has Phil Collins as a supporter, has about 100 events in 25 countries on board for the festival, which takes place in March.
"But there are no events on board in Russia yet - and the festival organizers are looking for musicians who want to represent their country by taking part in this global event," wrote Roach.
Musicians around the world will play, simultaneously, on the weekend of March 19-21 - all to raise money for Keep A Child Alive, a charity that provides medical equipment for children suffering from AIDS or HIV.
If there are Russian musicians "of all levels and genres" or venues wishing to take part in One World Beat festival by donating some or all of the fees and profits from the concerts during the days of the festival, please contact Roach by email (markroach@oneworldbeat.org). Check www.oneworldbeat.org for more information.
Locally, Poligon alternative club, which folded in August 2002, made the news this week by announcing it would reopen later this month. Despite early plans, the club's new place would be not in the city's northwest but in the premises now occupied by club PORT, according to manager Pavel Klinov.
Poligon's first events will be concerts by Psychea and 5'nizza on Feb. 19 and 20. According to Klinov, he is working toward changing the name "PORT" into "Poligon" by the end of March.
PORT originally launched as a "cool" techno venue soon turned into a concert venue with no definite art policy, lending its rooms to different promoters.
According to Klinov, the the full change of the club's name and logo might take place after March 12 when a concert by Russian veteran pop act Tekhnologiya is scheduled.
"We won't have anything to do with them. We're changing the format completely."
Klinov added that Poligon will promote 12 concerts a month. "There's a plenty of space there, and it's possible to promote smaller events for 200-300 people without using the large hall at all," he said.
Einsturzende Neubauten's concert promoted by Svetlaya Muzyka on Feb. 26 will take place, said Klinov.
Meanwhile, Western acts' concerts at Red Club will be continued even though Svetlaya Muzyka said last week that it would take its concerts into PORT.
"We keep working with [Moscow promoters] Caviar Lounge who brought Western acts to the club," said Red Club's art director Claire Yalakas. She explained that in reality the past concerts were promoted by Caviar Lounge with Svetlaya Muzyka performing administrative functions. Red Club will next host U.S. punk goddess Lydia Lunch on March 13.
The week's other highlights include Pakava It, the Moscow ska band, friends of Markscheider Kunst, who will play at Red Club on Saturday. Kacheli will play at Manhattan on Friday, while Chufella Marzufella will appear at Moloko on Sunday.
- By Sergey Chernov
TITLE: adding a little indonesian spice
AUTHOR: By Joseph James Crescente III
PUBLISHER: Special to The St. Petersburg Times
TEXT: We were standing on the street. It was cold and the snow was falling. We rang the bell and were informed by the maitre d' that in order to be seated we needed to be in possession of "club cards." We were also told that we needed to know the owner in order to receive one. We walked off, defeated and annoyed at Russia's elite system of dining. My companion however, a Dutch national, knew a place where we wouldn't be given the cold-shoulder.
Within minutes we arrived at Sukawati, which boasts on its menu that it is the first Indonesian restaurant in Russia. It may or may not be, but it was delightful to be dining at an Asian restaurant with a little spice. St. Petersburg suffers from a lack of variety of Asian restaurants: the majority in this category specialise in standard Chinese or Japanese fare. We were seated by an ensemble of waitresses, who helped us with our coats, in the smaller of two halls. The interior is simple, but elegant, with very comfortable gray woven chairs. The room was dimly, perfectly, lit. The din of muzak was little annoying, as muzak tends to be, but we scarcely noticed it after a few minutes.
My Dutch companion thankfully knows a few things about Indonesian cuisine and was able to guide us through the curious menu. The first thing I noticed was that many of the appetizers were of Japanese origin, such as a wide assortment of sushi rolls and Japanese soups. While we looked at the first section of the very long menu we started on a couple of half-liter Pilsner Urquell beers (150 rubles each, $5.25). Firstly, we were served a small, complimentary dish of spicy vegetables, perhaps to whet the appetite and prepare it for the spices to come. It was served with krupuks, Indonesia's answer to the chip. These were served repeatedly throughout the meal.
We decided to try some kind of sushi and agreed upon the spicy crab rolls (240 rubles, $8.40). It was a large portion for a sushi dish, consisting of eight rolls, stuffed with crab, celery and avocado and served with tofu. It was definitely spicy. Next came babi lumpia, which are fried, crunchy dumplings stuffed with pork and vegetables, and served with a sweet and sour sauce (70 rubles, $2.45). Such simple delights often prove the most satisfying. This was followed by the Karedok salad (70 rubles, $2.45), a delightful and light mix of vegetables smothered in peanut sauce.
While individual main courses certainly abound at Sukawati, it is also possible to sample a large variety of items on various platters, designed for one to two people. There is a vegetarian platter (420 rubles, $14.75) and rice and meat platters for one or two (390 and 720 rubles, $13.70 and $25.25). We decided on the rice platter for one and also the large sate assortment (290 rubles, $10.20). But first, we had to wash our hands, and we were provided with hot moist towels. It was just like being on an airplane (only with better food).
The rice platter came first. It took up the entire table and consisted of a variety of little trays. Vegetable and fruit trays were served on a warming plate, with bowls of yellow and white rice served on a platter. We munched through the portions of beef, chicken and fish, all served in different sauces, each with a varying degree of spiciness. My companion and I, not afraid of heat, ordered a side of sambo, a spicy chili sauce to go with everything. Next came the sate, the Indonesian version of kebabs. There were eight kebabs in total, each one different from the next, and they were served on an open flame mini-grill. Four sauces accompanied them, ranging from tomato to shrimp paste, to sweet and sour and onion. The kebabs included beef, pork, chicken wings and prawns.
We were absolutely stuffed, but my companion insisted on ordering Indonesia's most famous dessert, gendar bali (140 rubles, $4.90). It's a warm black rice pudding mixed with coconut cream, and fruit and vanilla ice cream. The portion was enormous, but my companion, who's had it a number of times, complained that the rice was undercooked.
The service was extremely intrusive. Indeed we felt like we were being watched. Perhaps it is integral to Indonesian culture to ensure the guests are being taken care of. The waitress came over to check on us at least every three or four minutes. At least they were attentive. The two cooks are from Bali, and so everything has a claim of authenticity. It is certainly well-cooked, and perhaps most importantly, well-spiced. Sukawati, opened on Jan. 15. It's biggest advantage is that it's in a class of its own. For spicy, unusual and exotic Asian cuisine, St. Petersburg knows no equal.
Sukawati, 8 Kazanskaya Ul., Tel. 312-8009. www.sukavati.ru. Open daily from 12 pm until the last guest leaves or 3 am. Menu in Russian and Indonesian. Credit cards accepted. Dinner for two with alcohol: 1,930 rubles($67.70).
TITLE: german view of both siege sides
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: Black and white images of wounded children, their heads wrapped in bandages, mix up with photos of women lining up for a ticket to the Leningrad Philharmonic. Wooden houses burning, military helmets with jagged holes in them and a fragile elderly woman laying flowers on a burial stone in Sologubovka village, 70 kilometers from St. Petersburg.
These images are part of an extensive exhibition by two German photographers dedicated to the 60th anniversary of lifting of the Siege of Leningrad in 1944. "Sologubovka/Russia" opened Wednesday at the Monument of Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Moskovsky Prospekt. Susanne Schleyer and Michael Stephan juxtapose archive shots from the files of the Museum of History of St. Petersburg with their own portraits of Russian and German war veterans to portray the legacy of World War II still lingering in people's souls.
Taking photographs at Sologubovka was a deliberate choice. The area houses a cemetery containing the remains of almost 80,000 German soldiers who died during World War II, making the burial site the largest of its kind in Europe. The two photographers also documented visits by German war veterans to the cemetery, which was opened in 2000. Schleyer and Stephan spent a lot of time, and had several meetings, with every person they photographed.
"We used a translator to make sure that both sides get all the nuances of this delicate and sensitive issue," Stephan said. "We were inspired to do this project with the deepest respect for the people who went through all that 60 years ago."
The research in the archives was a challenge as well. "This exhibition is telling human stories and therefore we weren't looking for pictures of battlefields, military equipment, soldiers in action and anything else related to the 'instrumental side of war' so to speak, " Stephan said. "The purpose was to choose the photographs which would allow you to get a feeling of the people and their emotions."
For Elena Lezik, director of the memorial museum which hosts the German exhibition, her monument is a sanctuary dedicated to and blessed by those who never returned home from World War II. She believes the new exhibition adds a new special dimension to the permanent display.
"What we would like the visitors to learn from it is that every time in every war there are human beings on both sides of the barricades," she said.
Boris Arakcheyev, director of the Museum of History of St. Petersburg, of which the monument is a branch, said vast majority of St. Petersburg's war veterans welcomed the exhibition while admitting that the project has also caused some controversy among Siege of Leningrad survivors. The museum has already received some angry calls from the people who felt insulted by the idea of a German contribution to the remembrance.
"Not everyone in the city has been happy with the project," Arakcheyev said. "There are people who have lost their entire families in concentration camps and they are still highly sensitive to any issue related to the war. Just the word 'German' being mentioned upsets them. But I do hope they'll reconsider [their attitude] if they come and see [the exhibition]."
War veteran Vera Rogova, 84, who was present at the exhibition's opening on Wednesday sounded very positive about the display calling it very human and compassionate.
"I was in the war, and I have been through all the brutalities but I also saw the human side of the tragedy," she said. "I saw starving Russian women sharing food with captured German soldiers. It sounds unbelievable yet it's true. And all of us, especially the younger generation who don't have our experience, need to be reminded that it is possible to remain human even during the hardest times."
Sologubovka/Russia can be seen in the museum at the Monument of Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Moskovsky Prospekt (Ploshchad Pobedy) until Feb. 17.
TITLE: city captures novel's confused hero
AUTHOR: By Galina Stolyarova
PUBLISHER: Staff Writer
TEXT: A mentally disturbed widowed Dutchman, son of a former Nazi officer, comes across a photo of a Russian woman on the Internet. The woman - almost the twin of his late wife Eva - lives in St. Petersburg. Johannes Liebman comes to the banks of Neva River to meet this woman, lose his wedding ring, fall in love and commit suicide.This not-so-comforting plot is not a real human story but a product of another Dutchman's imagination. Pieter Waterdrinker's "Liebman's Ring", which had been published in Netherlands two years ago, has been printed in St. Petersburg.
"For us as the publishers it was interesting to follow the adventures and experiences of a Dutchman in St. Petersburg, the city built by Peter the Great in the Dutch tradition," said Yulia Gumen, foreign rights director of St. Petersburg publishing house "Limbus Press" which has published the novel in Russian. "The book proves an old Russian saying wrong. As the saying has it, what is good for a Russian, would bring death to a German. In the novel, we can see the Dutchman happily turning into a drunkard, Russian style."
Shortly upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Liebman meets the lookalike Eva. The Russian beauty turns out to be a prostitute named Sonya Tumanova. She robs Johannes and steals his wedding ring, which he chases throughout the rest of the novel. On the way he is cheated, robbed, laughed at, beaten, blackmailed and arrested.
The Dutchman has the opportunity to forget about the ring and indulge instead in an affair with Ira, a middle-aged hotel clerk who possesses the skills of a Siberian shaman. But in his quest for the ring Liebman's isn't simply sentimental or greedy. Before the wedding Eva bewitched their two rings with a powerful spell. Eva comes to Johannes during a dream and gives him two months to find the ring - or he will join her in the afterlife.
Using whatever means available - from everyday walks around town to appealing to a dead Dutch prince in a seance - Liebman tries to find the ring. In the end, he fails.
As he tells his story to various people, his compatriots just squeamishly refuse to deal with Liebman or just ignore him as mentally disturbed. But the Russians do not suspect any mental insanity in Liebman.
"It is a big question whether Liebman is a psycho or not," Waterdrinker said. "My book is a St. Petersburg novel but it tells you much about the hypocrisy of Dutch and Holland, where both the streets and the souls are narrow."
The writer, who has been living in Russia for seven years now and is married to a woman from St. Petersburg, admits being enchanted by the Russia's northern capital.
"After Paris, St. Petersburg is the only other literary city in the world," Waterdrinker said. "What I love about this city is juxtaposition of the magnificent and the ugly, the fairytale and the disgusting."
Despite Waterdrinker's fascination, his novel paints St. Petersburg in gloomy and depressing colors, with the "disgusting" element prevailing over the "fairytale" elements - at least, in terms of exterior description. The author refrains from expressing his own opinions directly so the readers see St. Petersburg through the eyes of his characters. What is this vision of the city like? A "swamp," a "cesspool full of human sorrows," where "asphalt looks as it does after it has been bombed" in certain areas, where "it stinks and there are crowds of rats and cats." The city is "a precious box with French and Italian ornaments and jugendstil scrolls, built on millions of bones covered with blood."
Waterdrinker acknowledges the murky character of his book. "Yes, it is a dark novel, and St. Petersburg does appear gloomy and scary," he said. "Yet in my novel I have expressed my love for the city. I am addicted to St. Petersburg so strongly it probably feels like drug addiction."
The prominent Dutch literary critic Hans Varren welcomed "Liebman's Ring" in very positive terms. "This book is like Russia: talented and barbaric at the same time," Varren wrote. But the novel has caused controversy among the author's St. Petersburg counterparts.
Marina Lyudvigova of the local weekly newspaper Chas Pik (Rush Hour) accused Waterdrinker of banality and exploiting stereotypes, branding the novel hysterical and the main character a degenerate.
"Frozen corpses of homeless people, covered with snow and defreezing in the fall; police violence; goats in flats; a Greek philology professor working as a pimp in a dating agency for foreigners. It is utterly unlikely that any of contemporary St. Petersburgers would write about it as it is too trivial," Lyudvigova wrote.
For Waterdrinker himself, the most important element of his novel is Liebman's relentless Kafkaesque attempts to make people to see his personality beyond cliches of being "a son of a nazi" or "a psycho."
"It is like when people stop listening before you start talking," he said. "I have been through a similar experience myself, when I was accused of anti-semitism several years ago. That accusation was like a stigma, and everyone wanted to stay away."
TITLE: French Cabinet Approves Head Scarf Ban
AUTHOR: By Elaine Ganley
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: PARIS - Despite protests at home and abroad, the French government took its first formal step toward banning the Muslim head scarf from public schools, adopting the measure in a Cabinet session Wednesday.
President Jacques Chirac defended the legislation that would outlaw conspicuous religious symbols from public schools, which some believe is discriminatory. He said France must uphold its secular foundations
"To do nothing would be irresponsible. It would be a fault," Chirac told the closed-door Cabinet meeting, according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.
The bill would ban Jewish skullcaps, large Christian crosses and other religious symbols as well as Islamic head scarves. But Chirac has made clear that it is aimed at the Muslim coverings.
The bill stipulates that "in schools, junior high schools and high schools, signs and dress that conspicuously show the religious affiliation of students are forbidden."
The draft law has drawn criticism from Muslims around the world.
Some lawmakers have already said they would abstain or oppose the bill in the scheduled Feb. 10 lower house vote.
TITLE: Suicide Attack On Bus Kills 10 Bystanders
PUBLISHER: Combined Reports
TEXT: JERUSALEM - A suicide bomber struck a bus Thursday in Jerusalem, killing 10 bystanders and wounding about 30 in an attack near Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence, police and paramedics said.
Nobody claimed responsibility. The explosion coincided with a German-brokered prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, although it was not clear if the two were connected.
The explosion went off just before 9 a.m. in the Rehavia district in downtown Jerusalem, just 15 meters from Sharon's official residence. Sharon was at his farm in southern Israel at the time, his aides said.
Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said the attack illustrated why Israel is building a contentious separation barrier in the West Bank. Israel says the structure is needed to keep suicide bombers out of Israel. "The rest of the world should sit back and let us do what we need to do to defend ourselves," Gissin said.
The bomber was in the back of the bus when he detonated the explosives, Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said.
"It was a very serious attack on a bus packed with passengers," Levy said at the scene.
On Wednesday two planes flying in Arabs being freed by the Israelis and a kidnapped Israeli released in Beirut flew into Cologne military airfield. On board was Israeli businessman Elhanan Tannenbaum and three wooden coffins containing the remains of Israeli soldiers. Witnesses said that a second plane believed to be carrying the 30 Arabs, mostly Lebanese, landed minutes later.
The exchange will not be completed until forensic tests confirm the bodies are those of the soldiers abducted on a border patrol in 2000.
Buses started carrying the first of 400 Palestinian prisoners toward home from the Negev desert prison of Ketziot under the same deal, witnesses said.
Tannenbaum said he had gone to Lebanon to seek information on Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, who bailed out during a mission in 1986.
(AP, Reuters)
TITLE: Victorious Kerry Bracing for More Primaries
AUTHOR: By Mike Glover
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ST. LOUIS - Fueled by another victory and a slew of endorsements from high-profile Democrats, John Kerry said Wednesday that his campaign was "going in strong" into the upcoming round of nominating contests next week.
"We're going in in a competitive position," Kerry told reporters traveling on his campaign airplane.
Kerry, who has vowed to campaign in each of the seven states holding primaries next Tuesday, started with Missouri, where 74 delegates to the Democratic convention are the single biggest prize next week. He plans a return trip to the state on Saturday.
"We're going in strong," Kerry said, declining specifics.
Kerry came to St. Louis to collect important endorsements from some big names in Missouri Democratic politics, ranging from St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay to former Sens. Jean Carnahan and Tom Eagleton.
Others were expected. Representative Jim Clyburn, South Carolina's top black Democrat, was to give a coveted endorsement to Kerry on Thursday.
Kerry's swing through Missouri came on the heels of his solid victory Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary. Kerry said he was basking little in that win and was quickly turning his attention to the next round of contests.
TITLE: IN BRIEF
TEXT: Huge Exxon Mobil Bill
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay about $6.75 billion in punitive damages and interest to thousands of Alaskans affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Exxon Mobil has 30 days to appeal the order by U.S. District Judge Russel Holland, who ordered the Irving, Texas-based company to pay $4.5 billion in punitive damages and an estimated $2.25 billion in interest.
The money is to go to 32,000 fishermen, Alaska Natives, landowners, small businesses and municipalities affected by the 11-million gallon spill in Prince William Sound.
Bali Bomber Jailed
BALI, Indonesia (Reuters) - An Indonesian Muslim militant was sentenced to life in jail Thursday for helping to make the bombs that tore through two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali in 2002, killing 202 people.
Sarjiyo, alias Zaenal Abidin, 32, was found guilty by a court on the resort island of helping to carry out an act of terrorism. The attacks killed mostly foreign vacationers.
Sarjiyo immediately said he would appeal.
The Indonesian court has delivered jail sentences ranging from three years to the death penalty to more than two dozen men linked to the blasts on October 12, 2002, the worst act of terror since the Sept.11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Afghanistan Offensive
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is planning a new offensive in the 2-year-old Afghanistan campaign to stop remnants of the Taliban regime and the al-Qaida terror network, officials said Wednesday, even as a second suicide assault on foreign troops in Kabul in as many days killed one British soldier and injured four.
At the Pentagon, orders have been issued to prepare equipment and supplies for the coming offensive, although the operation will not necessarily require additional troops in the region, a defense official said on condition of anonymity.
The upcoming operation, first reported by the Chicago Tribune, has been dubbed the "spring offensive."
Another Pentagon official declined to discuss the possibility that troops would extend operations to the Pakistan side of the border, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and top lieutenants have long been said to be hiding. But the official said that might have to be the next step.
Call for Bird Slaughter
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The World Health Organization said Wednesday the mass slaughter of infected poultry is key to controlling the outbreak of avian flu sweeping Asia, but Indonesia said it doesn't intend to order its farmers to kill their birds.
Two sisters in Vietnam became the latest human fatalities, bringing the death toll to 10.
Health ministers from across Asia held an emergency meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday to consider how to stop the virus, but did not reach a consensus on destroying poultry stocks.
Tens of millions of chickens and ducks have died in Asia - from the disease or in government-ordered slaughters aimed at containing it.
Experts said there is no consensus that vaccination is enough to avert an epidemic, though it can be a potentially helpful addition to slaughter.
TITLE: Safin Beats Agassi in Aussie Open Semifinal
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: MELBOURNE, Australia - Marat Safin of Russia blew a two-set lead, then broke veteran champion Andre Agassi in the fifth set en route to a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6), 5-7, 1-6, 6-3 victory in the semifinals of the Australian Open Thursday night.
Agassi, defending his title, had his 26-match winning streak at Melbourne Park snapped by a resurgent Safin in an upset that could spell the end of the American's championship-winning days. Agassi called this "the toughest day I've had.''
"Marat played at an incredibly high level," Agassi said. "I forced him to play at that level the whole time. Sometimes you just need a little luck at the right time. I had chances that went away."
With Agassi serving at 2-1 in the fifth set, Safin broke with a good serve return that Agassi hit wide. He never gave Agassi a chance to break back again, holding serve the rest of the way and finishing off the match with a backhand winner down the line after 3 hours and 42 minutes. Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open champion and runner-up at the Australian Open in 2002, came into the tournament ranked No. 86 and unseeded.
Asked if he was playing as well as during his peak, Safin said: "It's so long ago, I don't really remember."
"I don't have the words to describe what I'm feeling now," he added. "I don't have anything inside me now."
Fourth-seeded Agassi had two set points before losing the first in a tiebreaker. Safin saved one on his own serve at deuce in the 10th game, when he hit a backhand winner down the line. Agassi's next set point was at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Safin saved with a backhand return at Agassi's feet. Safin went ahead 7-6 with a forehand down the line and clinched the set with his 12th ace.
They swapped breaks in the second, and Agassi fended off two break points while serving at 5-6 to force another tiebreaker. He again had a set point at 6-5, but Safin followed with a backhand winner, his 20th ace, and another solid serve return that Agassi hit long.
Agassi got one set back by breaking Safin at 5-6 in the third. With the crowd cheering him loudly after he went ahead 15-40 for his first break point of the set, Agassi sent back a service return that Safin jammed into the net.
Safin, known for his temper, was soon muttering to himself after a backhand into the net gave Agassi an early break in the fourth set. Agassi broke again to go up 5-1 and took the set with a serve that Safin couldn't get back.
Safin, who turned 24 on Tuesday, regained his composure in the deciding set. He made few errors in the fifth, and pumped his fists after hitting the winning shot. He will face the winner of Friday's semifinal between second-seeded Roger Federer and No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero for the championship.
Agassi, who was seeking his ninth Grand Slam title, had won the last three times that he played in the Australian Open, missing only in 2002 while recuperating from wrist surgery.
Safin, a former No. 1 whose ranking tumbled because of wrist problems last year, has proven throughout this tournament that he still has the talent to win big matches.
The Russian knocked off top-ranked Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals and had 33 aces against Agassi, one of the game's best returners. Just as important, he largely kept his famed temper in check despite the pressure on packed center court.
In the women's tournament, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters both won in straight sets Thursday, setting up an all-Belgian final at the Australian Open.
Both reached the semifinals at all four majors last season, with Henin-Hardenne beating Clijsters at the French and U.S. Opens. Neither had previously made the Australian Open final.
The top-ranked Henin-Hardenne advanced to her fourth Grand Slam championship match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Fabiola Zuluaga, who was seeded 32nd.
Clijsters passed a morning fitness test on her injured left ankle, then beat No. 22 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-2, 7-6 (2). She hasn't won a Grand Slam title in three finals.
Zuluaga and Schnyder were in their first Grand Slam semifinals.
Clijsters hurt her ankle at the Hopman Cup and was sidelined for two weeks before the Australian Open. She aggravated the injury in a quarterfinal victory over sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina on Wednesday, but said it was tightly taped for the Schnyder match and didn't bother her.
"I can't make it any worse," Clijsters said. "I try to focus on the ball and not think too much about my foot."
Clijsters still lunged at full stretch, doing the splits to send up defensive lobs at the baseline. She chased down Schnyder's drop shots and replied with winners.
Both semifinals were played under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena as light rain continued throughout the day.
Henin-Hardenne made 25 unforced errors, including 15 in the second set, but said she played well on the big points against Zuluaga.
"It was a good fight, long rallies, I played well on the important points and served well when I had to," she said. "I'm feeling good - I have won all my matches in two sets. I have a lot of motivation, and it's great to be in the final."
Henin-Hardenne said coming into a major ranked No. 1 was hard to handle in the first week.
"It's been a difficult tournament for me. It was new and being the top seed," she said. "But the situation changed in the quarterfinals and I feel better and better.
"Now I have to improve my level again if I want to win the title."
Henin-Hardenne said Belgian fans will enjoy seeing both women in the final.
"Both Kim and I are getting familiar and used to this situation," she said. "Kim has a lot of fans. I have, too. And one more time, it's just amazing ... It's just something crazy for a little country."
Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne have been friends since junior tournaments. They have played 17 times, with Clijsters holding a 9-8 advantage, including a victory in their last match. It's 2-2 in Grand Slams, with both of Henin-Hardenne's wins coming in finals.
TITLE: Super Bowl Focus of The World
AUTHOR: By Bob Baum
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: HOUSTON, Texas - The Chinese hadn't arrived yet, but dozens of other foreign journalists had already gathered for a party at the massive Galleria shopping mall, where a band called Plastic Farm Animals and several young ice skaters provided entertainment.
"They are butchering some of our beloved Liverpool folk songs," said Nick Szczepanik of The Times of London as a band labored through a Beatles' number.
The Super Bowl, perhaps the most American of all sporting events, is a worldwide curiosity, chronicled by some 400 members of the international media gathered here this week. The New England Patriots play the Carolina Panthers in Houston Feb. 1. In the wee hours of Monday in Europe, and after daybreak in Asia, television sets will be tuned in for a live broadcast of the game.
"Not many people know what is going on on the field," said Akira Kuboshima, editor of Japan's American Football Magazine. "But still they can be excited to watch the battle between the teams."
And even a familiar face or two.
Eight players in uniform on Sunday once played in Europe.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme had two stints there. The first time he was a backup to yet-to-be-famous Kurt Warner, who went on to lead St. Louis to the Super Bowl four years ago. The second time he helped Frankfort win the World Bowl.
"I think we are just the most underdeveloped position in the game," Delhomme said. "That's why NFL Europe is important. You go over and play. You get game experience."
The US National Football League makes a concerted international marketing effort, with the American Bowl played every season in Japan and NFL Europe exposing the game to thousands on he continent.
Sunday's game will be beamed to a potential audience estimated by the NFL at 1 billion in 229 countries and territories. It will be broadcast in 21 languages, including Arabic, Cantonese, Icelandic, Thai, Serbian - and Russian.
Fourteen television and radio stations from 10 countries will broadcast the game on-site including, for the first time, a crew from China. Philadelphia Eagles tight end Chad Lewis, who speaks fluent Mandarin, will be the color analyst.
"The event is one of the greatest sporting occasions in the world," Zhigang Shi, producer of China's CCTV broadcast, said in a statement released by the NFL, "and we are looking forward to capturing the drama for our viewers."
Not that the NFL is taking the world by storm. "Football, outside the United States, is played with a round ball, covered with black and white squares, and kicked by players in shorts and high socks.
"In Germany, the most popular sports are soccer, soccer, soccer and then soccer," said Gunter Zapf, who will broadcast the Super Bowl for Germany's Premiere television.
Many international sports fans find American football to be tedious, with all the stoppages in play interspersed by a few seconds of action.
"It's getting popular more and more, but not like baseball or sumo or soccer," said Hiroshi Ikezawa, associate editor of The Japan Times, attending his 11th Super Bowl.
"Only a few people play it and a few watch it. They say it's too complicated, with too many rules."
Still, two Japanese television stations have 50 people apiece at the Super Bowl. Their live telecasts will begin at 8 a.m., Monday, Japanese time.
Szczepanik, who once lived in Miami, loves the NFL, but many of his British countrymen have a hard time understanding why.
"There is a certain section of people who say, well, it's rugby for sissies because they wear protective gear and they wear helmets," he said.
"But I say yeah, well, you don't get quite so many people breaking their necks and their collar bones in American football."
Even if the Super Bowl itself is confusing, or a bore, there still are entertainment perks like the pre-game festivities and the halftime extravaganza.
"There are enough people who are willing to give American football a try and they like it," Szczepanik said. "They like the glamour of it and they like the image of it."
And what image would that be? It's certainly not on a scale with the month-long soccer World Cup.
"It's the rush for land in the West made into a game, isn't it?" Szczepanik said. "It's all about gaining yardage and stealing the other guy's property. It's the gold rush. That's why the San Francisco 49ers are so popular."
TITLE: Heatley Returns After Car Crash
AUTHOR: By Paul Newberry
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: ATLANTA, Georgia - Dany Heatley made an emotional return to the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night, less than four months after a car wreck killed his teammate and friend Dan Snyder.
Heatley back on the ice, his physical recovery complete, wore a constant reminder of that awful night on a patch above his heart.
It reads No. 37 - Snyder's team number.
"It's great just being in the room between periods, just being on the bench," said Heatley, who celebrated when Jeff Cowan scored late in the third period to salvage a 1-1 tie with the St. Louis Blues.
"Now the first one's over. Maybe I can move on."
Heatley was a bit rusty and definitely running on fumes near the end of the game, but he also gave plenty of reasons for optimism.
He had four shots on goal - as many as anyone on the ice - and he got two excellent chances late in the first period while working on the power play.
Heatley fired one shot over the net, then watched in dismay as Reinhard Divis made a dazzling pad save after the Atlanta forward got loose in front of the net.
"It's a very positive first step," said Thrashers coach Bob Hartley, who had Heatley on the ice for nearly 23 minutes. "He had some real good chances on the power play. I put him in some tough situations at key moments in the game. I thought he did pretty good."
When Cowan scored with 2:24 left in regulation, Heatley led the celebration on the bench. With a gap-toothed smile, he tapped his stick on the boards and patted teammate Ilya Kovalchuk on the helmet.
Like all of his teammates, Heatley wore a patch with Snyder's number on his sweater. After the game, Heatley attended a news conference wearing a hat and warmup suit that also were adorned with No. 37.
"I think about him all the time," Heatley said. "He was a great guy, the perfect teammate. He was a guy who worked harder than anybody. That's what I take the most from him."
Heatley was driving on Sept. 29 when his sports car slammed into a wall with Snyder in the passenger seat. Heatley broke his jaw, injured a shoulder and tore ligaments in his knee. Snyder died six days later from massive brain injuries without ever regaining consciousness.
The near-sellout crowd at Philips Arena welcomed Heatley back with a raucous ovation. Among the signs: "We're With You Dany!"
Heatley was the next-to-last Thrashers player to take the ice before the game, but he didn't have to wait long to get back in. He was in the starting lineup, taking his familiar place on a line with Slava Kozlov and Shawn McEachern.
"I'm so happy to see him back," said Laura Gervais, a Thrashers season-ticket holder, sporting a replica of the sweater that Heatley wore while winning the MVP award in last year's All-Star game.
On the opening faceoff, Heatley lined up next to St. Louis star Keith Tkachuk, who mumbled a few words of encouragement. Then it was down to business - less than 30 seconds after the puck dropped, Heatley put a shoulder into Blues defenseman Bryce Salvador along the boards.
"It's nice to see him out there, taking his mind off things," Tkachuk said. "I told him he's a tremendous person and don't forget that."
Undoubtedly, getting back on the ice was a major step in Heatley's recovery process. During those few hours, at least, he's able to escape the memory of his Ferrari spinning out of control on a narrow, winding street.
Police estimated that Heatley was driving about 80 mph - far above the speed limit - but prosecutors haven't decided whether to file charges.
TITLE: Cleveland Cavaliers Brush Aside Miami Heat 94-93
AUTHOR: By Tom Withers
PUBLISHER: The Associated Press
TEXT: CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ira Newble didn't slap any hands until after his game-winning block.
Newble swatted away Dwyane Wade's layup in the final second, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 30 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers matched their win total from last season by defeating the Miami Heat 94-93 Wednesday night.
Wade, returning to the lineup after missing 13 games with a sprained wrist, had his short shot underneath knocked out of bounds by Newble as Cleveland improved to 17-28.
"I got it," Newble said, insisting he didn't foul Wade. "And it felt great."
Wade remained face down on the floor for more than a minute before getting up, and then
the rookie from Marquette stormed off complaining he was fouled.
"I thought I had the layup, and then something happened," Wade said. "Somebody pushed
me. I was just mad.
Rookie LeBron James added 27 points - 11 in the fourth quarter - and Dajuan Wagner scored a huge basket with 7.9 seconds left for the Cavs, who won despite not having forward Carlos Boozer.
Boozer, averaging 23 points and 16 rebounds in his last five games, left the team to attend a family funeral.
Ilgauskas finished 14-of-16 from the field for the Cavs, who went 4-1 on a homestand.
"I kind of knew it was going to be my night. The first shot I threw up bounced five times and went in," Ilgauskas said.
With 37 games left, Cleveland, which hasn't made the postseason since 1998, is just two games out of the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Eddie Jones had 16 points, and Wade and Lamar Odom had 15 apiece for Miami, which took a 93-92 lead on Malik Allen's running hook shot in the lane with 35 seconds left.
Wagner missed a 3-pointer with 15 seconds remaining, but Kevin Ollie got the long rebound and gave it back to his teammate. Wagner had to avoid two players on the floor in the lane as he dropped in a high-arching layup with 7.9 seconds to go.
"I had to make that one," Wagner said. "I thought the 3 was going in. I got another chance and had to do it."
Ilgauskas made all seven of his attempts in the first half before missing a jumper on his first try after halftime.