LOCAL NEWS

BASAYEV’S ‘NIGHTLINE’ INTERVIEW IRKS RUSSIA

MOSCOW — The Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. Embassy’s top official and politicians expressed outrage after a U.S. television network broadcast an interview with Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who has a $10 million bounty on his head and has claimed responsibility for the Beslan school hostage-taking and other terrorist attacks.

Basayev acknowledged in the interview that he was a terrorist and repeated his earlier statements that he might order more Beslan-style attacks. But he softened his rhetoric by noticeably avoiding loaded words such as “jihad” and “infidels.”

The taped interview was broadcast on ABC television’s “Nightline” late Thursday night and was conducted by Andrei Babitsky, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist who has complained about Russian harassment over previous reports about Chechnya.

SHIPPING MISHAPS HINT AT DEEP PROBLEMS

Navy Day celebrations Sunday were marred by three separate accidents to ships including damage to the “Neukrotimy,” the would-be flagship of a Navy Day flotilla, a minor oil spillage from a tanker and a cargo ship hitting a bridge over the River Neva.

A special commission has been formed to investigate the incident with the “Neukrotimy,” RIA-Novosti news agency reported a press officer with the Baltic Fleet as saying Monday.

RUSSIA GOOGLE-EYED AT THE POSSIBILITIES FOR NEW IT PARKS

A new breed of information technology parks will be aimed at global companies and guarantee positions for more than 1,000 employees, a top government of¸cial said Friday.

“The point is to have a different kind of company [in the IT parks],” Dmitry Milovantsev, Deputy Minister for Information Technologies, said after a meeting on the creation of the country’s ¸rst state-sponsored IT park, to be built in St.

HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS: POLICE IGNORE EXTREMISTS

The City Prosecutor’s Office is siding with extremist groups that promote racial hatred in St. Petersburg and has ignored warnings about their activities from local anti-fascist organizations, a group of human rights advocates said Thursday.

NATIONAL NEWS

MONGOLIAN HELD FOR ATTACK ON AMBASSADOR

St. Petersburg police detained a Mongolian citizen suspected of an attack on British Ambassador Tony Brenton and his wife in June.

Police said its criminal department received information that the detained man, who engaged in attacks against other people in the center of St.

NAVY DAY SPIRIT REMAINS UPBEAT

Colorful fireworks met gray skies Sunday as St. Petersburgers flooded the streets to celebrate Navy Day.

The main festivities kicked off around midday on a stage set up near the Naval Museum on Vasilyevsky Island.

DOCKERS MEET FOR STRIKE TALKS

St. Petersburg Sea Port dockers plan to hold meetings between Aug. 12-15 where they may decide to go on strike indefinitely.

The dockers are considering the action because they say their collective labor agreement for 2005-2008 makes labor conditions worse than the previous agreements, Interfax reported on Friday, citing the dockers’ trade union.

GOVERNOR ACCEPTS APOLOGY

Governor Valentina Matviyenko has accepted apologies from Leningrad Oblast Governor Valery Serdyukov expressed in relation to remarks made by his deputy Grigory Dvas in relation to City Hall investment policy last month, the municipal television Channel 5 reported on Monday.

IN BRIEF

Bribe Doctor Caught

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The chief trauma doctor of the Leningrad Military District was detained on suspicion of receiving a bribe, Interfax reported on Monday quoting the city police.

Alexander Nekayev, a medical unit colonel, allegedly asked a serviceman to pay him a $2,000 bribe for a medical form that would allow him to leave the military service on health grounds, Interfax cited the police as saying.

LOCAL BUSINESS

AUTO INSURANCE LOOSING PROFIT, PROVIDERS

Insurance company profits from third-party auto insurance are falling, which is leading many firms to quit providing this service altogether, industry players said last week at a ABNews-organized roundtable.

The increasing volume of pay-outs makes third party liability an unprofitable business, insurers said.

CLINICS TO LAUNCH ASSOCIATION DEFENDING INDUSTRY’S STABILITY

The city’s top private clinics will launch a St. Petersburg medical association by the end of this year to defend the industry against “shady, half-legal medical offices,” uncooperative insurance firms, and staff pinching.

ACCOR OPENS $30M 4-STAR HOTEL IN CENTER OF CITY

Europe’s largest hotel operator Accor opened its third hotel in Russia, the 4-star Novotel, on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Mayakovskaya Ulitsa on Friday.

Accor will manage the hotel while the property will be 100 percent owned by West Bridge Hotel group, which invested more than $30 million in the project.

EXPENSIVE OPTICS KEEP EYES WIDE OPEN

Though street stalls with glitzy, no-brand ware still occupy their place in the sun, Russian consumers shopping for glasses are increasingly choosing specialized optics salons, attracted as much by quality as by fashion.

COURT TO PICK WHICH VODKA CAN CLAIM REAL RUSSIAN HERITAGE

MOSCOW — A vodka row over which brand is the real deal has got as far as the courts.

The heirs of Pyotr Smirnov are taking their prolonged battle against global drinks giant Diageo, manufacturer of premium vodka brand Smirnoff, to court.

The Trading House of the Descendants of Pyotr Smirnov has filed a suit at the Moscow Arbitration Court to stop Diageo from selling Smirnoff vodka in Russia, said Andrei Kravets, general director of the Trading House, on Friday.

FAST FORWARDING BOSS KEEPS CULTURAL BARRIERS INTACT

As a schoolboy, Sergei Shidlovsky, founder and president of freight forwarding firm Transsphere, was often warned of the dangers of chewing gum by his teachers.

CHANGES IN VAT TAX ESTABLISH NEW GAME RULES

Two new federal laws amending the value added tax Chapter of the Tax Code were recently signed by the president. Like changes made to the profits tax legislation this June, the VAT amendments are aimed at eliminating certain gaps in the legislation, synchronizing the profits tax and the VAT legislation, as well as establishing certain new rules.

PROSPERITY AND POLITICAL PREDICTABILITY

For long-term portfolio and strategic investors looking at Russia today, political stability and economic predictability are much more important issues than, say, the price of oil.