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As St. Petersburg’s prosecutor’s office investigates the circumstances of the fire that destroyed two of the five cupolas of the historic Troitse-Izmailovsky Cathedral, sometimes known as Trinity Cathedral, on Aug. 25, local clergymen say the tragic accident is likely to have been an act of arson.
“Photographs taken by parishioners at the scene — before the central dome perished in the blaze — show that there were several sources of fire and smoke,” said Father Konstantin, who serves at the cathedral and who was leading a mass when the fire broke. “Witnesses recall that the central dome was engulfed in fire instantly, as if poured by petrol.”
Metropolitan Vladimir of St. |
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CURTAIN UP
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Metropolitan Vladimir blessing the Aleksandrinsky Theater on Thursday. The theater’s reopening on Thursday, following renovations, coincided with its 250th anniversary. The repairs began in April 2005 and the ceremony was attended by Governor Valentina Matviyenko. |
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MOSCOW — Oleg Deripaska and Roman Abramovich, the original founders of Russian Aluminum, could be on track to rejoin forces, this time as partners in a diversified metals and mining giant.
As two sources confirmed Wednesday that RusAl was moving to merge with SUAL and Glencore to create the world’s biggest aluminum producer, an official close to the negotiations said the combined company would not stop there.
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MOSCOW — U.S. spy agencies will provide Moscow with intelligence to help find the killers of four Russian diplomats who were kidnapped in Baghdad in June, it was reported.
During talks this week in the U.S. state of Alaska, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov “that the U. |
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TOKYO — Officials on Wednesday released two Japanese fishermen held since their boat was seized for purportedly fishing in Russian waters.
The officials handed over the fishermen — Akiyoshi Kawamura and Haruki Kamiya — on Wednesday afternoon, said Shunji Yamada, an official in the Japanese Foreign Ministry. |
All photos from issue.
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ARGUN, Chechnya — The humiliation of Malika Soltayeva, a pregnant Chechen woman suspected of adultery, was ferocious and swift.
Soltayeva, 23, had been away from home for a month and was reported missing by her family. When she returned, her husband accused her of infidelity and banished her from their apartment. |
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MOSCOW — The Party of Life, the Rodina party and the Pensioners’ Party announced Tuesday that they would merge, forming a left-wing alternative to United Russia. |
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Gazprom is looking at assets in France and Belgium as it continues its powerful push into the gas markets of Western Europe.
Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said Gazprom would consider buying up assets left out of a contentious merger between Paris-based utilities Gaz de France and Suez, French newspaper La Tribune reported Wednesday. |
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The skyrocketing price of city real estate is forcing buyers’ attention to Leningrad Oblast — but even there supply is already struggling to meet demand, experts said at a round table at Interfax Northwest on Tuesday. |
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MOSCOW — Metals magnate Alisher Usmanov said Wednesday night that he was buying the Kommersant business daily for about $200 million.
Usmanov said the editorial policy and the newspaper’s management would remain unchanged.
“I won’t interfere with the editorial policy. |
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Knauf, the German producer of construction materials, launched a new plasterboard plant in St. Petersburg this week, investing 60 million euros ($77 million) into the project. |
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MOSCOW — When Vladimir Artyakov took over AvtoVAZ in December, he pledged the state would pump billions of dollars into the ailing carmaker. On Wednesday, Artyakov said AvtoVAZ didn’t need any state money.
Now, the AvtoVAZ chairman indicated, the nation’s No. |
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MOSCOW — The Economic Development and Trade Ministry is planning to bring in new motor fuel taxes from 2008, Vedomosti reported Wednesday, with a method of categorizing fuels that one analyst said would keep refining margins high. |
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One important issue from July’s G8 summit in St. Petersburg has significant implications for the United States and the global trading system, but received little play in the Western media: Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization. The United States has glaringly politicized this issue for domestic purposes, while its actions in St. |
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The mayors of the town of Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol Region have been about as lucky as the inhabitants of the cursed apartment No. 50 in Bulgakov’s classic novel “The Master and Margarita”. |
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 Dutch Punch, a contemporary arts event, brings cutting-edge acts from Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second city, to provide an intriguing glimpse into European urban culture.
Rotterdam, the Netherlands’ second-biggest city, is famous for having Europe’s largest port, daring modern architecture, Erasmus University and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, whose musical director is Valery Gergiev of St. |
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He was a vicious dictator. She was just a teenager when they fell in love. An upcoming television series turns Stalin’s marriage into a soap opera.
Josef Stalin is depicted as a passionate lover who missed the October Revolution because he was in bed with his teenage lover, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, in a period drama titled “His Wife” that is due to air on Russian television in November. |
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A leading alternative band and St. Petersburg’s oldest surviving alternative club will celebrate their anniversaries with a joint party and concert this week, albeit invitation-only.
Tequilajazzz, which played its first concert at the legendary TaMtAm club in Sept. |
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STOCKHOLM — New Scandinavian and Nordic music took center stage at the Fourth Baltic Sea Festival that concluded in Stockholm on Sunday. One of the main goals of this classical music festival with an environmental bent — the musicians campaign to save the Baltic Sea from dangerous levels of pollution — is to nurture emerging talent in contemporary Baltic classical music. |
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What is to be done with intellectual rivals in a revolution of ideas? Lesley Chamberlain’s book grippingly recounts how Lenin cleared the way for a new social order.
The persecution of free-spirited intellectuals and artists in the Soviet era has become, in many respects, a familiar tale. Numberless novels and memoirs have described, in nightmarish detail, the varied forms of coercion and punishment it adopted — whether in Josef Stalin’s prison camps or Leonid Brezhnev’s psychiatric hospitals, through public shaming or private harassment. |
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DEAD SEA, Jordan — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday renewed his calls on Israel to lift a blockade on Lebanon swiftly and withdraw fully from the country as soon as 5,000 UN peacekeepers are in the south.
Annan, who was due to travel to Syria later in the day, is trying to bolster a truce ushered in by a UN resolution to halt a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. |
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HONG KONG — A Chinese court jailed a reporter for a Singapore newspaper for five years on Thursday on a charge of spying, the latest in a series of high-profile cases underscoring China’s curbs on the media and dissent. |
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LONDON — Michael Schumacher’s manager Willi Weber has given up talking to the Ferrari driver about his plans for next year.
For the rest of Formula One, however, it has become an obsession.
Barely a day goes by without another twist to the speculation about the most successful, if not the greatest, driver the sport has seen and whether he plans to retire or carry on next year. |
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CARACAS, Venezuela — The government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has promised a socialist revolution for the poor, on Wednesday criticized an ally’s move to seize two golf courses to build affordable housing. |
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LA COVATILLA, Spain — Italian Danilo Di Luca’s victory on the Tour of Spain’s first summit finish unexpectedly propelled him into the overall lead on Wednesday. The Liquigas rider showed surprisingly strong form when he outgunned Slovenian Janez Brajkovic at the top of the 18 km Covatilla climb. |
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LONDON — England should celebrate their first competitive match under Steve McClaren with a goal bonanza against Andorra in their opening Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday. |
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NEW YORK — Barry Zito pitched 6-1/3 strong innings as the Oakland A’s completed a three-game series sweep of the fading Boston Red Sox with a 7-2 win in Oakland on Wednesday.
Bobby Kielty and Mark Ellis homered for the AL West leading A’s, who have won a season-high nine straight home games and 15 of 19 overall. |
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LONDON — Japan is one of the few rallies that Sebastien Loeb has yet to win. The Citroen driver can rectify that this weekend in record-breaking fashion. |
Temp: -2°C moderate or heavy snow showers
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