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KIEV - President Vladimir Putin threw his weight on Thursday behind Ukraine's outgoing president in his bid to block a quick rerun of disputed presidential polls that the country's opposition thinks would bring it victory. At a meeting with President Leonid Kuchma at an airport outside Moscow, Putin said the idea of restaging just the second round of the elections, as demanded by opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, could well fail. |
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Seventy years ago on Wednesday, on Dec. 1, 1934, a shot rang out that killed not only the Communist Party boss of Leningrad, but also marked the start of a wave of mass repressions by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. |
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Russia's AIDS epidemic - larger than in any other country in Europe or Central Asia - may begin killing hundreds of thousands of people in just two years, with dire effects for the economy. But despite the troubling forecasts, the federal government spends about the same amount of money to combat AIDS as it does to support the national book publishing industry. |
All photos from issue.
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A group of St. Petersburgers who were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation when they helped bring the 1986 Chernobyl disaster under control began a hunger strike Wednesday demanding the state pay them more compensation. Eight workers based in Sestroretsk, on the city outskirts, said the government had raised the payments only once since 1997, by 19 percent in 2000, and inflation has been eating away at its value. |
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Closer co-ordination on countering drug abuse and trafficking between Nordic countries and northwest Russia can benefit everyone, speakers at a seminar on the problems said. |
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A nuclear-powered icebreaker under construction at St. Petersburg shipbuilder Baltiisky Zavod caught fire on Tuesday morning. There was no danger of a radiation leak because the fuel rods for the reactor have not yet been installed. "The vessel is still under construction, and therefore there was no nuclear fuel on it," said Yelena Trekhovitskaya, head of the plant's PR department. |
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City Raises Fees ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - City Hall announced that the cost of a journey on all forms of municipal public transport will rise to 10 rubles from Jan. |
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 British Airways wants to carry even more passengers from St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport next year after a rise of about 20 percent this year, officials said Wednesday. "It is a profitable route," said Daniel Burkhard, regional commercial manager of British Airways for Eastern Europe, including Russia. "In summer we carry many tourists and in winter numbers are boosted by students traveling to Britain to learn English. |
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 A rise in long-life packaged milk consumption will indicate the development of a modern and civilized dairy market in the country, said Russia's leading food packaging firm. |
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Mobile communications operator Tele2 announced a launch of a new tariff plan Wednesday in a bid to cement its position as a low-cost operator. "We do not feel that we need to provide such tariffs, but it is one more opportunity to highlight our position on the markets as the cheapest operator," said Sergei Sukharev, general director of Tele2 in St. |
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MOSCOW - A much-feared Audit Chamber report on privatization violations from 1993 to 2003 sent stocks tumbling nearly 3 percent Wednesday, but big business and market watchers fought off yawns. |
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MOSCOW - Manufacturing contracted in November for the first time in six years, the latest sign that contradictory government policies and waning business confidence could be undermining the longest boom since the fall of the Soviet Union. Moscow Narodny Bank's Purchasing Managers Index published Wednesday showed manufacturing slowed for the first time since November 1998 as prices for materials and energy rose and capital became harder to attract. |
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MOSCOW - Russia's economy minister German Gref is trying to halt plans for the Gazprom monopoly to bid for the main production unit of embattled Yukos, Meanwhile Russia's MICEX bourse suspended trading in Yukos' ruble shares after they fell 34 percent Thursday to 27. |
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The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has often been overlooked by the West. Major Western donors interested in the East mostly focus on political and economic transition, while those who are concerned about HIV/AIDS mostly look south to sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic has reached a much more visible stage. |
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A small party last week at the apartment of a friend who lives in the city center ended up with me and three other guests carrying an old woman from her apartment to an ambulance downstairs. |
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An acquaintance of mine, a world karate champion, once told me that when you're competing on enemy territory the judges will never let you win on points. You've got to win by knockout. Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko won the election on points and now he's going for a knockout. In the election game, a knockout is known as a revolution. |
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Following Damien Hirst's small-scale exhibition at the Russian Museum last year, the museum welcomed another artist from the celebrated Young British Artists movement last week when it unveiled photo and video works by Sam Taylor-Wood at the Mikhailovsky Castle. |
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A concert by Franz Ferdinand has been finally confirmed by the band, according to the local promoter Svetlaya Muzyka. Britain's latest rock and roll sensation will perform in the city on May 28. |
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Kartago, 11 Nevsky Prospekt Open 24 hours a day. No credits cards. Lunch for three, without alcohol: 1,152 rubles ($41). Tel: 314 7021. It may be a long way from sunny Tunisia, but the Kartago bistro is a hospitable place to get a quick, hearty lunch (or dinner or midnight snack) in downtown St. |
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A scene from the Mariinsky Theater's production of George Balanchine's Serenade, a ballet often performed in the city of his birth. Marking the 100th anniversary of George Balanchine's birth, this year saw an explosion of dance events across the world, from tributes at the Mariinsky Theater in St. |
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Lately in Russia there's been a lot of talk about ++"@ÂÒÒËfl ++Ì"ÎËÈÒÍÓ"Ó flÁ(o)Í++ (the invasion of the English language): the huge influx of English words into Russian. |
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Riding a wave of fame since his science-fiction novel "Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor) became a hit movie last summer, author Sergei Lukyanenko plans to publish a new book in installments on his own web site, and has polled readers for creative-writing tips. |
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A photo exhibition of British contemporary bridges along with the best proposals for a new pedestrian bridge in St. Petersburg designed by young Russian architects opened at the Peter and Paul Fortress last week. The exhibition is the highlight of a modern British architecture initiative organized by the British Consulate General, which began on Nov. |
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HARARE, Zimbabwe - England wicketkeeper Geraint Jones decided to follow his instincts rather than the textbook last season and is happy with the results so far. "I've been happy with my progress, but there's a long way to go," Jones told a news conference on Thursday. |
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A Bridge a Too Far? ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - FC Zenit were due to play TSV Alemannia Aachen in The Netherlands late Thursday in the continuing Group Stage of the UEFA Cup. |
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