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MOSCOW Former Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov was appointed justice minister on Friday, stoking fears that the authorities might adopt a tougher stance on dissent.
President Vladimir Putin appointed Ustinov just hours after the Federation Council approved his nomination of former Justice Minister Yury Chaika as the new prosecutor general.
As justice minister, Ustinov will oversee the registration and activities of political parties as they prepare for State Duma elections next year. His ministry will be able to deny registration to parties with less than 50,000 members.
Ustinov will also supervise nongovernmental organizations, which will have to start filing cumbersome financial reports next year under a restrictive law that came into effect in April. |
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SAILING AWAY
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
The Shtandart sailing on the Neva River in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress on Friday. The ship was taking part in the city’s traditional “Crimson Sails” festivities, celebrating the end of the academic year in Russia and the graduation of St. Petersburg’s school leavers. |
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MOSCOW After a protracted, highly politicized struggle between Russia and the United States over Russias bid to join the World Trade Organization, Russian negotiators and two people familiar with the U.S. position said a bilateral agreement could be just weeks away.
I am willing to bet that the agreement will be signed right before, or during, the Group of Eight summit, said a source familiar with the U.
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Notorious anti-Semite Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the flamboyant leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, has made a pilgrimage to his fathers grave in Israel.
For 60 years, I didnt know anything about my father, Zhirinovsky told reporters in Tel Aviv, adding that he had been looking for him for a half-century. |
All photos from issue.
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Foreign tourists may have less trouble on the streets of St. Petersburg when an Angels Service begins to patrol the city on Wednesday, according to City Hall.
Having spotted Angels in I Can Help T-shirts, tourists will be able to approach them and receive qualified help on how to get to places, where to shop and what to do in emergency situations. |
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MOSCOW Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and 12 other regional leaders are calling for the church, media and authorities to join forces to counter extremist figures such as Dmitry Rogozin and Eduard Limonov, as well as Vladimir Gusinsky and Boris Berezovsky, whom they accuse of bankrolling extremism. |
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MOSCOW The famous Putin-Berlusconi romance is apparently on life support.
With voters having tossed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from office and President Vladimir Putin busy meeting Berlusconis successor, one of the best-known and most controversial relationships between two heads of state looks to be unraveling. |
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In sync with the worldwide trend, St. Petersburg has adopted a new mode of transportation. Since the end of May and continuing through the summer, cycle rickshaws have been rolling the streets of Petrodvorets. |
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MOSCOW U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to skirt a Russian clampdown on the opposition and hostility toward nearby pro-Western governments when he meets President Vladimir Putin on June 14.
While Washington last week sent signals that it was upset with Moscow, those were intended for the United States East European allies, not Russia, political analysts said Friday. |
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BERLIN When Andriy Shevchenko scored a penalty for Ukraine, putting it into the second round of the World Cup, cameras in Berlins Olympic Stadium cut to a delirious Ukrainian crowd. |
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DUSHANBE, Tajikistan The United States accused certain Central Asian leaders of trying to sell their souls for personal gain Friday and denied Washington was seeking undue influence in the region.
In a sharply worded statement, the U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan said Washington had no intention of creating its own blocs in Central Asia, where analysts say Russia is vying with both the United States and China for influence. |
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ALABUSHEVO, Moscow Region Lidia Fedorenko loved life. There were her friends, family and, of course, all the former math students she had taught over the decades. |
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MOSCOW Frances Renault wants a blocking stake of 25 percent plus one share in the countrys No. 1 carmaker, AvtoVAZ, and set up a joint venture that would produce 450,000 Logan cars per year in Russia, Vedomosti reported Friday.
Vedomosti said the deal, which would have to be approved by the Kremlin, was discussed when AvtoVAZ chairman Vladimir Artyakov visited Paris last week. |
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MOSCOW The government has agreed to allow more time for the switch to new excise labels for imported wine and spirits, potentially averting losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to importers and retailers. |
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MOSCOW Russian state oil firm Rosneft said on Monday it would go ahead with its $11 billion initial public offering, potentially the worlds fifth biggest, despite falling stocks in emerging markets and litigation risks.
Rosneft, Russias No. 3 oil firm, said it had agreed with banks involved in the IPO to value the firm at $60 billion to $80 billion, or up to 33 percent more than the market value of Russias No. |
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MOSCOW The countrys business lobby slammed a new tax bill Friday, saying it failed to protect entrepreneurs from overly rigorous taxmen and contradicted President Vladimir Putins call to end tax terror. |
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MOSCOW Urals Mining and Metals, the countrys second-largest copper producer, said Friday that it had not signed a deal with Aluminum Corp. of China to bid for the huge Udokan copper field in eastern Russia.
An official at the Chinese company had earlier told an industry meeting in Shanghai that Aluminum Corp. |
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Yevgeny Gurevich, vice president and one of the founders of the Adamant holding company, gives the impression of being a truly self-made man. Having started his career as a foreman at a building site twenty years ago, hes achieved phenomenal success, amassing a fortune of some 1,4 billion rubles ($50 million) in the process. |
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Given that wireless technology is not particularly widespread and that the quantity of regular users comprises only several thousand people, the market for public Wi-Fi access to the internet is yet to be really established. Nevertheless, Wi-Fi providers are in the process of developing new areas of access. |
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As the world watches the political maneuvering over restarting nuclear talks with Iran this time with American participation few are paying attention to a broader strategic competition that has started between the United States, Russia and China. |
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It has become fashionable to refer to the current jockeying for influence and resources in Central Asia as the new Great Game. Is there a Great Game II as there was a World War II? And is that a useful template for understanding that part of the world today?
The original Great Game was the rivalry between the Russian and British empires for the markets of Central Asia. |
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In 1990, PelÎ predicted that an African country would soon win the World Cup. Sixteen years, two Brazilian and two European champions later, Ghana, ranked 48th in the world, behind even Trinidad and Tobago, has defeated both the Czech Republic, ranked second, and the United States, ranked fifth, and will meet Brazil (ranked, reasonably, first) on Tuesday. |
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When Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov was dismissed on June 1, some argued he had been too aggressive in his campaign against corruption, others that he had been too soft. |
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This week an interesting story appeared in The Washington Post buried on page 16, of course, lest anyone think it was of the slightest importance. It revealed that documentary proof has now emerged confirming the fact that in the spring of 2003, the regime of President George W. Bush flush with its illusory victory in Iraq spurned a wide-ranging peace feeler from Iran that offered full cooperation on every issue that the Bushists claim to be concerned about in regard to Tehran: nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups. |
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LONDON From Africa to Bosnia, back to Africa and on to the Middle East the often-secretive flow of guns and bullets follows the worlds cycle of wars.
In the middle are the faceless brokers who have facilitated the multibillion-dollar trade since the 1950s and 1960s when the United States and the Soviet Union used go-betweens to arm their allies to fight the Cold War by proxy. |
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STOCKHOLM U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to help push global military expenditure further up in 2006 after hitting $1.12 trillion per year, a research body said. |
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BUNIA, Congo Some fight in flip-flops, others hope potions will turn their enemys bullets into water, and most take little time to aim, trusting in the theory: He who makes most noise wins.
But the government soldiers, militia fighters and bush bandits in eastern Congo all have one thing in common an AK-47 assault rifle. |
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Missiles to Syria and Iran, warplanes to Venezuela and Myanmar, helicopters to Sudan Russia goes its own way when it comes to selling arms, seemingly immune to ethical debates that affect the industry elsewhere. |
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BERLIN Germanys foreign minister said on Monday it was inconceivable that the six powers that made an offer of incentives to Iran to encourage it to give up uranium enrichment would wait another two months for a response.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week Iran would deliver its answer on the package by August 22, prompting U. |
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LONDON British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday that the Group of Eight had failed to make progress on some of the commitments it made at a summit last year to tackle global poverty. |
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DILI, East Timor East Timors embattled prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, resigned on Monday, saying he would share responsibility for a political crisis that has gripped Asias newest nation for over two months.
There was no immediate word on a replacement, but news of his departure was welcomed by thousands of people who have been demonstrating in the capital for the past week. |
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WASHINGTON Afghan President Hamid Karzai is losing support from many Afghans and some foreign governments as a Taliban-led insurgency escalates and his government fails to stem endemic corruption, the Washington Post reported on Monday. |
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BERLIN A rampaging wild bear, the first seen in Bavaria in more than 170 years, has been shot dead by a hunter, a spokesman for the local authority in the region of Oberbayern said on Monday.
The young brown bear, known as Bruno, drew widespread media coverage and was initially welcomed after it wandered across the border with Austria. |
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NUREMBERG Triumphant in victory but licking their wounds at its cost, Portugal woke up on Monday wondering how to restructure against England without two, or possibly three, key players.
In an ill-tempered 1-0 win over the Netherlands on Sunday, the Portuguese lost Costinha and Deco to red cards and winger Cristiano Ronaldo limped off the pitch in tears after a fierce challenge from Hollands Khalid Boulahrouz. |
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LONDON Englands unconvincing 1-0 World Cup win over Ecuador has met with hoots of derision from the newspapers back home.
The London Evening Standard, which had more time to weigh up Englands performance than the British national morning papers, headlined its match report Pitiful display fails to rattle Sven. |
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BERLIN Germany has the strength to beat Argentina and bring a black series against top class opposition to an end, coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Monday.
It is almost six years since Germanys last win over one of the games major powers, a 1-0 victory against England at Wembley in October 2000. |
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New Coach Named
ST. PETERSBURG (Reuters) Dutchman Dick Advocaat has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to coach FC Zenit St. Petersburg, the Russian premier league side said on Monday. |
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