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MOSCOW — While the cameras were running, there were few surprises at this weekend’s meeting of G8 finance ministers. But behind the scenes, police officers hungrily invaded the press center cafeteria, Britain’s chancellor of the exchequer told his favorite finance minister jokes, and security men vigilantly guarded against sandwiches wrapped in plastic. The scrutiny was intense for the first Group of Eight event with Russia in charge. Europeans, jittery after recent cuts in Russian gas deliveries, came to press for increased energy supplies and diversification. |
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Viktor Korotayev / Reuters
From left, Rodrigo Rato of the IMF, Flaherty, Putin, Steinbruck, Brown and Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti attending G8 negotiations in Moscow on Saturday. |
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MOSCOW — Russia took a hesitant step toward liberalizing its energy market at the Group of Eight finance ministers’ meeting in Moscow over the weekend, with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin saying Saturday that Gazprom would eventually lose its exclusive use of gas pipelines. In an apparent response to European pressure, Kudrin said that independent gas producers, including foreign companies, would have access to the state-controlled export pipelines.
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With less than six months remaining until the G8 heads-of-government meeting in St. Petersburg on July 7-13, there have been mixed reactions to the city’s preparations for the high-profile international summit. The finishing touches are being put to the program of the Mariinsky Theater’s Stars of the White Nights summer festival — a key entertainment event for visiting dignitaries — and a giant press center is being constructed close to the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, President Vladimir Putin’s St. |
All photos from issue.
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The Los Angeles Times CHELYABINSK, Russia — Just before New Year’s Day, army private Andrei Sychyov called his mother and asked her to come bring him home for the holiday. He had four days’ leave, he said. Please don’t make him spend it in the barracks. |
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MOSCOW — Traffic police stopped hundreds of drivers for document checks and purported traffic violations in western Moscow on Sunday, breaking up a protest of at least 1,000 drivers over the conviction of a fellow driver and the use of flashing blue lights and sirens on bureaucrats’ cars. |
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MOSCOW — About 400 members of the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi converged on Perm last week to stage a protest against the governor, Oleg Chirkunov, for allowing a member of a far-right group to speak at a youth forum. Political observers, however, said the protest had less to do with fighting fascism than with influencing next month’s Perm mayoral elections, in which a Nashi-backed candidate is running against the governor’s candidate. |
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A hotly contested bill on advertising passed the crucial second reading in the State Duma on Friday, provoking strong protests among market players. Protecting consumers, the new law prohibits the use of children’s images in the advertisement of alcohol, beer, tobacco and gambling. |
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St. Petersburg can finally boast its own dollar billionaire, according to an annual rating published Monday by economic weekly Finance. The magazine found Andrei Rogachev, the man behind one of Russia’s biggest supermarket chains Pyaterochka, to be the city’s wealthiest businessman. |
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One of City Hall’s most important achievements in 2005 was to nearly double the city budget, Vladimir Blank, chairman of the committee for economic development, industrial policy and trade said last week at a press conference. Analysts said that although economic figures for last year were within the country average they were indicative of certain negative tendencies. |
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Naftogaz Loan KIEV (Bloomberg) — Depfa Investment Bank Ltd. agreed in December to loan $220 million to NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy, Ukraine’s state-run oil and gas company, Naftogaz officials said. |
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MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin urged the government on Friday to spur upgrades of the power sector and encourage investment in electricity monopoly Unified Energy Systems, warning that the industry was stretched by growing economic demand. The remarks came as Moscow and a number of other regions in European Russia were recovering from some three weeks of unusually cold temperatures that put the energy supply system under serious strain and forced UES to introduce limits to electricity use for a number of industrial consumers in the capital. |
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MOSCOW — Mechel co-founder and CEO Vladimir Iorikh is to step down in the next 12 months and sell his 42.2 stake in the steel and coal producer, the company said Friday in a statement. |
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Where to pay income tax and how to avoid double taxation are serious questions for any expat. Even when there are double-tax treaties between Russia and an expat’s home country, it can be difficult to work out what they actually mean in practice. Russia has double-taxation treaties with more than 60 countries, including Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France and Italy. |
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As a means of attracting investment Russian regional authorities may offer concessions on profit tax. Since the enforcement of Part 2 of the Tax Code, however, their rights have been significantly curtailed, and the maximum incentive that can be offered is a 4 percent reduction in the tax rate. |
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Agence France Presse Russia marked its chairmanship of the Group of Eight powers this weekend with a distinct swagger. Russia has taken a lashing this year over a crackdown on non-governmental organisations, Chechnya, and hard-nosed — some say hostile — energy policies toward neighbouring, pro-Western countries such as Ukraine and Georgia. |
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“We are not in favor of process for the sake of process itself. We want results.” So said Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili on Thursday in addressing the lack of momentum for the peace process Georgia launched last year for resolving its conflict with the breakaway region of South Ossetia. |
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Driving in this country, one may be forgiven for wondering just why one is expected to get out of the way whenever a car with government plates and a single blue flashing light appears — and, as a rule, approaches at extraordinary speed — in the rearview mirror. |
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That White Mule of Sin. Black Diamond Express to Hell. Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Jesus. There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down. The titles roll out like pulpit thunder, the ghostly rumble of a world long gone: the gospel songs and sermons of America’s rural poor, black and white, from the great outpouring of folk culture that rose in the Deep South during the first half of the 20th century. |
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Army Abuse Arrest LONDON (Reuters) — One person has been arrested after the release of a video apparently showing British soldiers savagely beating Iraqi teenagers in 2004, the Ministry of Defense said on Monday. A spokesman said the arrest was made on Sunday night but declined to give further details. |
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Kazakhstan came to the Winter Olympics with few hopes of winning a medal but they have already scooped one of the highest accolades in Italy. Top fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana voted the Kazakhs the most stylish team to parade at the Olympics opening ceremony and said they would happily cast them on their catwalk. |
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Canada Routs Russia TURIN, Italy (AP) — After shutting out its first two opponents in the women’s Olympic hockey tournament, defending champ Canada is still on the defensive. Coach Melody Davidson received critical e-mails after the Canadians opened with a record-setting 16-0 victory over host Italy. |
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The St. Petersburg internet market is on the verge of a broadband boom, with it soon to become the main mode of access in the private sector. Last year broadband use effectively doubled, and, if any further proof is needed, the fact that the main universal operators, along with the local telephone monopoly, have all woken up to this coming trend should speak volumes about the way the market is headed. |
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This year has become a turning point for the communications market in Russia. Since Jan.1 a new law has come into effect breaking up the monopoly of long-distance call provider Rostelecom. |
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Last year a number of leading analytical agencies, Gartner Group and Forrester Research among them, included Russia in their lists of the world’s leading markets for IT outsourcing — only a few years ago it was hard to foresee the country receiving such recognition. |
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New rules concerning data transfer could lead to an end in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) scratch-card services, and force providers to look for new market segments. |
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Oleg Popov, Commercial Director and Deputy General Director of North-West Telecom, talks about the company’s plans to launch an ADSL operator. You’re now coming to the end of the testing period for the launch of your ADSL system. How many subscribers does it cover and in which regions of the city? What preliminary conclusions have you reached? During the implementation of the pilot project we mailed invitation coupons for hooking up to ADSL Internet access services. |
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I use the metro both in St. Petersburg and during my occasional trips to Moscow. On it I have seen people reading books and newspapers for as long as I can remember. |
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It took only seven years for Nikolai Demenchuk to build a career at MegaFon. Having joined the company as a call center operator, he rapidly worked his way up the corporate ladder to become appointed deputy director and commercial director at its Northwest branch. Born in 1974 in Leningrad, Demenchuk said that he had never planned a career in business. |
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