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ROME — Leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, an Italian parliamentary investigative commission said in a report. A final draft of the report, which is due to be presented to parliament later this month, was made available on Thursday by the commission president, Senator Paolo Guzzanti. “This commission believes, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the leadership of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate Pope John Paul,” the report said. “They relayed this decision to the military secret services for them to take on all necessary operations to commit a crime of unique gravity, without parallel in modern times,” it said. The report also says “some elements” of the Bulgarian secret services were involved but that this was an attempt to divert attention away from the Soviet Union’s alleged key role. |
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DOGGY STYLE
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Dogs taking part in a fashion show at Vladimirsky Passazh on Thursday. The show featured pedigree dogs sporting designer gear which is becoming increasingly trendy among dog lovers. |
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GAZA — Hamas embarks on a quest for international legitimacy on Friday with an official visit to Russia, marking the Islamic militant group’s first talks with a major power involved in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Although it deals a blow to U.S.-led efforts to isolate Hamas since it swept Palestinian elections in January, Russia’s mediation is seen by some in the West as a chance to talk the faction into renouncing violence and recognizing Israel.
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Democracy in modern Russia was described as “electronic,” “conventional,” and “theoretical,” but still a major step forward from the country’s totalitarian past, by participants in a debate held in St. Petersburg this week. The event was organized by BBC World Service Radio with the support of the Regional Press Institute. |
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The police have said they have detained a suspect in the case of the Feb. 24 attack on Desire Da Leko, a 33-year-old African man, who spent four days in a coma with severe brain injuries. |
All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — Hundreds of people paid their last respects Wednesday to NTV journalist Ilya Zimin, whose heavily beaten body was found in his rented apartment over the weekend. Friends and colleagues, including NTV anchor Mikhail Osokin, former NTV general director Yevgeny Kiselyov and Russian Newsweek editor Leonid Parfyonov, silently filed past Zimin’s open casket and laid flowers nearby at the Ostankino television center, where Zimin had co-anchored the “Profession: Reporter” show. |
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MOSCOW — An Italian businessman killed in downtown Moscow in January was carrying a briefcase with about $400,000 in cash — down payments for orders of designer Italian footwear. |
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MOSCOW — The Federation Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a counter-terrorism bill that would allow the military to fire on civilian airplanes and ships hijacked by terrorists. Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov will have to issue a secret order to clearly define standard operational procedures and designate responsible officials to deal with such situations, Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council’s Defense and Security Committee, told reporters after the vote. |
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MINSK — Belarus’ security chief said Wednesday that his agency had uncovered an opposition plot to mount a violent coup in the days after this month’s presidential election. |
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The largest U.S. food producer Kraft Foods has said that it will invest $100 million to build a new plant in Leningrad Oblast in a bid to satisfy Russia’s growing taste for instant coffee. The new production facilities will be located at the Gorelovo industrial zone near an existing plant for instant coffee packaging, Interfax cited Kraft CEO in Russia Michael Boon as saying at a press briefing on Tuesday. |
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Petropol investment and construction firm will invest over $100 million into the reconstruction of what was formerly Emperor’s Factory, transforming it into a multifunctional complex, the company said Wednesday in a statement. |
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Finnish Cash ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Finland has allocated 23 million euros for projects with neighboring areas in 2006, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs reported Thursday on its web site. Most of the funds have been allocated for the environment, nuclear and radiation safety, social services and healthcare, development of cooperation between the administration and the authorities, as well as consolidation of the civil society. |
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MOSCOW — Vneshtorgbank, the country’s second-biggest lender, said Wednesday that it planned to expand into the entire CIS, as well as parts of Africa and Asia by the end of 2006, either through acquisition or opening its own subsidiaries. |
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MOSCOW — A World Bank agency on Wednesday urged Russia’s richest companies to take advantage of the booming economy to invest in the world’s poorest countries, and offered to help insure them against political risks. “This is where you have a huge role to play, as you are growing tremendously quickly,” said Yukiko Omura, executive vice president of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency at a conference organized jointly with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, or RSPP. |
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Who would not want to see some silver lining to the case of Andrei Sychyov, the conscript who recently lost both his legs due to vicious beatings inflicted on him by older conscripts? There might be one — but only if this tragedy finally spurs the Russian government into taking lasting measures to stem rampant abuses in the armed forces. |
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The thing about some structures is, when any one thing gives, it starts a reaction that exposes every other thing that has rotted, broken or cracked. This can happen with buildings, or people, or societies. |
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Olga and Alexander Florensky, an artist-team who are also husband and wife, opened two exhibitions early this year within one week of each other. “Russian Trophy” at the State Russian Museum was a large collection of close to 50 self-fabricated war- and violence related objects and documents, including guns, monuments, flags, a submarine, a helicopter, swords, and a series of five short documentary-style films, while “Geographic Maps” at the New World of Art (NOMI) Gallery featured a collection of twelve large scale map-like objects. |
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LOS ANGELES — For years, the Oscars have catapulted actors and actresses to movie stardom and this year there are many fresh faces among the nominees who could be poised for a big break out of the pack at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood. |
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The Pixies have canceled upcoming concerts in Russia, the Moscow-based promoter Greenwave Music said this week. According to the promoter’s press officer, the band’s agent sent an email message saying that its entire European tour had been canceled, without going into further detail. |
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New York’s Fun Lovin’ Criminals are probably better known in Europe than in the U.S., but the quirky trio, which is to play a concert in St. Petersburg on March 11, draws its inspiration from its native city. |
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An exhibition of photographs by Victoria Ukhalova called “The Stroll — Palaces and Parks of St. Petersburg” opens Saturday at the Anna Nova gallery on Zhukovskogo Ulitsa. Ukhalova, one of the artists associated with the New Academy of Fine Arts led by the late Timur Novikov (another is Bella Matveyeva who was the last artist to be exhibited in Anna Nova), is presenting a series of portraits of characters on St. |
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Is it a mouse, a bear or simply a piece of classic totalitarian kitsch? Whatever it is, Cheburashka, the furry creature known to kids throughout the Soviet Union has staged an astonishing comeback as the official mascot of the Russian Olympic team As cheering crowds greeted Russia’s returning Olympians at Sheremetyevo Airport on Monday evening, elsewhere in Moscow another unofficial champion of the Turin Winter Olympics — the country’s much-loved furry, big-eared creature, Cheburashka — appeared to have been driven to extinction by his own popularity. |
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BERLIN — Alarm over the spread of bird flu grew on Wednesday after Germany reported a dead cat infected with the virus, while France sought to curb restrictions on its poultry exports. Germany told pet owners to keep their cats indoors and their dogs on a leash in areas hit by bird flu after the discovery of the dead cat on a northern island where the H5N1 virus has been identified in wild birds. |
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FLORENCE, Italy — Italy and Germany are routinely billed as World Cup favourites going into the sport’s biggest tournament, but on the evidence of Wednesday’s 4-1 rout, this year’s hosts looked far from being regarded a genuine contender. However, before the dust had settled on a resounding win for the home side, both coaches insisted that nothing much should be read into the result. |
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LONDON — Pete Sampras will compete in the World Team Tennis Pro League this season more than three years after retiring, but has ruled out a comeback at the top level. |
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LIVERPOOL — Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Tuesday it had not been his decision to stand down as England coach, indicating he had been asked to resign after embarrassing newspaper revelations. Eriksson was asked at a news conference on Tuesday if there was any way he could change his mind about leaving the England job after the 2006 World Cup. |
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NEW YORK — The Winter Olympics are likely to remain a major focal point for advertisers despite falling short with U.S. audiences this year, the chief executive of No. |
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Issues Archive