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MOSCOW — In a broadside attack on corruption and incompetence in every so-called power agency but his own, Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov on Friday chastised police for covering up crimes, accused the Federal Anti-Drug Service of being an essentially redundant agency and said that the number of military officers who committed crimes last year would add up to two regiments. Speaking at a meeting of prosecutors Friday, Ustinov said police officers nationwide had covered up more than 700 murders, 1,500 assaults and 80,000 property-related crimes. “Not even the threat of sitting in the defendant’s cage stops police officers from covering up crimes,” Ustinov said, Interfax reported. Ustinov said more than 3.5 million crimes were committed in Russia in 2005, a 25 percent jump from the previous year, and that the number of unsolved crimes had risen by one-third compared with 2004, reaching more than 1. |
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READY, STEADY, GO!
Viktor korotayev / Reuters
Competitors in the Ski-Run Russia cross-country skiing contest outside Moscow on Sunday. Around 400,000 skiers took part in 45 cities in the all-Russian sports event. |
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Stay Human, a major nationwide campaign aimed at battling a prejudice against HIV-positive people, arrived in St. Petersburg last week with advertisements calling for greater understanding among the general public. “HIV isn’t transmited via friendship,” is the motto of the campaign, which has been organized by a number of Russian humanitarian foundations, including the Russian Coordination Council for HIV-Positive People and local charity foundation Delo.
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All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — It has the support of President Vladimir Putin and a dream to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Krasnaya Polyana skiing development near Sochi promises to rival the Alps with quality slopes and lodgings for ski enthusiasts and serious competitors alike, said officials associated with Gazprom, Interros and other companies that are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the 62,000-hectare area. |
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Bloomberg MUNICH — Leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations should boycott a summit hosted by Russia this year to protest President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic course, U. |
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The annual number of mortgages granted to city residents is set to double in 2006, as growing competition and falling interest rates force banks to offer new, more attractive schemes to the consumer. During the last year local banks issued 5,000 mortgages of about $208. |
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Moscow-based operators of indoor amusement parks, “Igromaks,” “Crazy Park” and “Star Galaxy” will establish a presence in St. Petersburg in 2006, business daily Vedomosti reported last Tuesday. |
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MOSCOW — The government wants to gain majority control of diamond monopoly Alrosa by buying out employees’ stakes, Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref was quoted as saying on Sunday. Alrosa has been seen by analysts as a potential nucleus for a state minerals company — with some company officials suggesting it could merge with Norilsk Nickel. |
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Insurance Acquisition ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Rosno insurance company is completing acquisition of a controlling stake of the Medexpress insurance company from Franco Canadienne De Re and Mutzenbecher, Herter und Wand for an undisclosed sum, Rosno said Monday in a statement. |
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It is only recently that Chris Finlayson and his wife completed their move to Moscow, though Finlayson was appointed head of Shell Russia in November of 2005. They came not from their motherland, the UK, as one might have assumed, but directly from Lagos, Nigeria, where Finlayson had been CEO of Shell Africa’s Exploration and Production since 2004. |
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Travel fairs are an integral part of the tourism business and Helsinki’s Matka fair is the industry’s largest Nordic event. The 20-year old fair, which this year took place from Jan. |
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Following the separation of state-owned Pulkovo’s airline and airport, international air carriers are finding it easier to negotiate extra flights and different time slots. Last week Finnair announced additional flights to St. Petersburg, bringing their weekly total of departures to the city to 10. |
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MOSCOW — Belarus is to buy a set of Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets from India, which will make up the core of the country’s air force and which, after planned upgrades, will be more advanced than the fighters operated by Russia’s armed forces. |
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Editorial At his news conference last week, President Vladimir Putin said the country’s leadership was not planning a major renationalization of key industries. Yet, the headlines tell us the opposite. The state itself or state-controlled companies either are planning to take control of several major enterprises or have already done so. |
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Celebrity architects such as Norman Foster or Eric Van Egeraat could soon be working for St. Petersburg. Last week both of them proposed projects for a new commercial and recreational area on New Holland, an 8-hectare island in the center of the city. |
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Financial Times Britain is normally open territory for foreign bids and takeovers. But offensive government moves can occasionally be worrying, and one has to gulp at the prospect of Gazprom possibly bidding for Centrica, which has more than half the British retail gas market. This produced shivers of anticipation for Centrica shareholders, but also shivers of fear about the implications for competition and security of supply. |
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Ministers Seek Delay MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russia’s energy and finance ministers asked a U.S. court to grant then more time to respond to charges brought against them by a group of minority shareholders Yukos shareholders, Kommersant reported Monday, citing the ministers’ lawyers. |
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MOSCOW — Interros, the parent firm of metals giant Norilsk Nickel, has won control of Russia’s second-largest gold deposit, Nezhdaninskoye, after buying out Celtic’s stake in it, the two firms said Friday. |
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The demand for nationalism, chauvinism and indeed racism is very high on the Russian political market these days. But will these sentiments forever hinder the country’s progress toward democracy and its rapprochement with the West? No, and in fact one day they may become the engine that drives Russia into political modernity. |
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I wanted to avoid the subject of Boris Yeltsin’s birthday, believing that the topic was largely understood and there was little more to be said. The results of a poll on attitudes to the former president carried out by the Yuri Levada Center, however, demonstrated the vast extent of my naivety. |
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The Pittsburgh Steelers came out victorious at the fortieth Super Bowl as the team outfoxed the Seattle Seahawks 21-10 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The biggest night in U.S. sports saw Steelers’ wide receiver Hines Ward take the MVP award for catching a 43-yard touchdown pass from receiver Antwaan Randle El on Sunday. |
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Midway on its journey to the Summer Games, the Olympic flame comes to rest for 16 days in Turin, Italy on Friday at the 20th Winter Olympics. More than 2,400 top athletes from around the world will compete in 84 events and in 15 different sports for their chance at an Olympic medal. |
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TOKYO — Yelena Dementyeva ended Martina Hingis’ bid for a first singles title since returning to tennis with a crushing 6-2, 6-0 win in the Pan Pacific Open final on Sunday. “It was probably one Russian too many,” smiled Hingis, who had beaten Maria Kirilenko and top seed Maria Sharapova en route to her first final in four comeback tournaments. |
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