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MOSCOW — New Prosecutor General Yury Chaika fired the chief military prosecutor and five deputy prosecutors Wednesday in an overhaul of the Prosecutor General’s Office that removes several officials linked to incompetence or corruption.
Chief Military Prosecutor Alexander Savenkov, however, had made a name for himself as being independent and fair, and his dismissal dismayed soldiers’ rights activists.
The fired deputy prosecutors include First Deputy Prosecutor General Yury Biryukov, who blocked a high-profile smuggling investigation into the Tri Kita and Grand furniture stores; the outspoken Vladimir Kolesnikov; Nicholai Shepel, who oversaw the Beslan investigation; and Anatoly Bondar and Valentin Simuchenkov, Interfax reported late Wednesday. |
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THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Local soccer fans watching Germany play Italy on Tuesday at Sports Bar 84 in the Varshavsky Express shopping and entertainment complex. For a detailed guide to where to watch the World Cup final live at 10 p.m. on Sunday, see AAT. |
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U.S. opera star Renee Fleming is this week recording a CD with conductor Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg, the singer revealed at a meeting with local journalists.
Following a solo recital on June 27 at the theater’s “The Stars of the White Nights” festival, the popular soprano remained in the city to collaborate with Gergiev and the orchestra on a recording of late-Romantic composers for Decca Records.
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All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday took issue with Britain for granting asylum to a senior Chechen rebel and scolded Europeans for ignoring neo-Nazi marches and violations of the rights of ethnic Russians in Baltic countries.
While Putin did not explicitly cite Britain, the target of his criticism was clear. |
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In the ongoing debate over whether Russia deserves a place in the Group of Eight, the Kremlin has focused on what Russia can bring to the table: resource riches, fiscal health and experience fighting terrorism. |
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The state of the city’s transport infrastructure came under the spotlight at SPIBA’s (St. Petersburg International Business Association for Northwestern Russia) general meeting, June 20.
At the St. Petersburg Economic forum in June, two city construction projects were named along with four other national projects as recipients of Russia’s investment fund. |
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ST. PETERSBURG — Dutch brewer Heineken hopes to increase its share in Russia, its single largest market, to 20 percent from the current 16 percent in five to six years, its chairman said Wednesday. |
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MOSCOW — The State Duma overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday formalizing Gazprom’s monopoly over gas exports, defying EU calls for liberalization on the eve of the Group of Eight summit.
The legislation is likely to exacerbate tensions between Russia and the European Union. |
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MOSCOW — Russian grain exports are set to plunge this year because of a lower harvest due to drought in the country’s south and heavy rainfall in Siberia, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev said Wednesday. |
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LONDON — Europe must develop a common energy policy and the planned flotation of state oil firm Rosneft should be blocked to tackle the threat Russia poses to energy supplies, billionaire financier George Soros said Tuesday.
“I think that Russia is working as a monopoly supplier and it is essential for Europe to have a coordinated energy policy to be able to stand up as equal partners in negotiating with Russia,” Soros said. |
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MOSCOW — Flagship carrier Aeroflot on Wednesday dismissed as hearsay allegations that its staff members had been involved in the organized smuggling of counterfeit DVDs into the United States. |
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MOSCOW — Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel, or MMK, delayed indefinitely its first-ever offer of shares to investors just hours before a Wednesday placement, blaming a slump in emerging markets. The metals firm’s decision comes in the wake of a string of Russian bond and share issue cancellations and postponements last month. |
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Port Dispute
ST. PETERSBURG (Bloomberg) — The port of St. Petersburg, Russia’s biggest, may be paralyzed because of a dispute between the authorities and stevedoring companies, Kommersant reported, citing unidentified sources in the Association of Russian Ports. |
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Something quite mundane seems to have helped one religious community bring together an illustrious assortment of the big international names in the area of religion: oil. Far from the impoverished relative invited to sit in humbly as the G7 grandees conferred, Russia is now holding its head high in the G8, with many suitors pandering for a share of its black riches. |
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Making my way through the giant, packed backyard of the American ambassador’s residence the other day — during the U.S. Independence Day reception, when, it seemed, most of Moscow was there — I glimpsed an old acquaintance. |
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 Sparks, the seminal art-pop band from Los Angeles that changed the course of pop music with its 1970s albums such as “Kimono My House” and “Propaganda,” inspiring generations of listeners and musicians — most famously Morrissey — makes its local live debut, several months after playing a pair of very diverse concerts in Moscow. |
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Guests at the Open Look dance festival.
In a city characterized by racial tensions and a classical ballet sensibility, Monday night’s performance “Same Spirit Different Movement” by the American hip-hop dance company Illstyle & Peace Productions was refreshing and fun. |
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Sparks and the Leningrad Cowboys will make their live debuts in the city this week. The both acts took time to speak with this paper, see pages i, ii and iv.
Your Voice Against Poverty, an outdoor rock concert featuring such local bands as Tequilajazzz, Dva Samaliota and Pep-See will be held at the Molodyozhny Theater’s inner gardens on Friday. |
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The World Cup final on is on Sunday — where will you be at kickoff at 10 p.m.?
The FIFA World Cup 2006 has been a vivid mixture of excellent football, plenty of drama and magnificent goals. |
 The Leningrad Cowboys, the flamboyant band that became known internationally after featuring in films by Finland’s leading director Aki Kaurismaki and also for its collaborations with the Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble, owes its moniker to St. Petersburg’s Soviet name, but this week’s concert will be the Helsinki-based band’s first in the city since it has formed in 1986. |
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Mexican Election
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) — Mexico’s conservative presidential candidate Felipe Calderon appeared headed for a razor-thin victory on Thursday although his leftist rival could fight the result with legal challenges and street protests.
Calderon had 35.62 percent support with results in from 97. |
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CAEN, France — Phonak team manager John Lelangue has claimed favorite status for his leading Tour de France rider, American Floyd Landis, a former lieutenant of Lance Armstrong.
“Everybody knew that Floyd was a first-class rider. Since he joined our team he has become a true and complete leader,” Lelangue told journalists before the start of the fifth stage from Beauvais to Caen on Thursday. |
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NEW YORK — Kenny Rogers beat his former team for the seventh consecutive time as the Detroit Tigers avoided a series sweep with a 10-4 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday. |
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NEW YORK — The Dallas Stars restocked its depleted roster by signing free agents Jeff Halpern and Matthew Barnaby on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old Halpern has played his entire seven-year NHL career with the Washington Capitals, scoring 87 goals and amassing 127 assists in 438 games. |
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Scheduled for demolition in coming weeks, the Kirov Stadium on Krestovsky Island saw one of its last events Thursday as FC Zenit St. Petersburg played its first match of the 2006/07 soccer season there against Dinamo Moscow. |
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BERLIN — Franz Beckenbauer said on Thursday he hoped Juergen Klinsmann would stay on as coach because the job he started rebuilding Germany football is not finished yet.
Germany’s World Cup organising committee president, who led West Germany to the championship as a player in 1974 and coach in 1990, praised Klinsmann for taking his young team to the semi-final even though he has long been a critic of the coach. |
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MUNICH, Germany — Luiz Felipe Scolari says Portugal can be proud of its football team despite their agonising loss to France, as he goes about the difficult task of picking them up for a third-placed play-off match. |
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Issues Archive