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MOSCOW — Foreigners arriving in Russia by ferry will be allowed to stay in the country for up to three days without a visa, according to a governmental decree published Wednesday. Russia’s top tourism official said he hopes that the decree, which mirrors a current law allowing foreigners a three-day stay in Russia with no visa if they arrive on cruise ships, will help mitigate an expected drop in the number of foreign tourists amid the global financial crisis. St. Petersburg officials also hope that it will give a boost to the northern capital, which is one of seven port cities affected in the decree and where tourism keeps a significant amount of residents employed. |
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SING IT LOUD
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
An ensemble of traditional Russian singers and musicians rehearse their unique interpretations of classic Eurovision Song Contest hits as an introduction to Eurovision 2009, which is currently being hosted in Moscow. For full story, see Page Three. |
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MOSCOW — After being the source of endless hand-wringing, the battered ruble is mounting a comeback, advancing to a four-month high of 31.93 against the U.S. dollar in trading Wednesday. But whether its strength can be maintained, and whether a strong ruble is a good thing at all, appears to be anybody’s guess. The Central Bank set the exchange rate at 31.
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The St. Petersburg human rights group Memorial has had all files confiscated during the infamous 4th December raid on its offices — since officially declared illegitimate by the St. Petersburg City Court — returned to its possession. During the raid, investigators seized the organization’s research material from the past 20 years. |
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KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, Khabarovsk Region — Amurmetal, the only steelmaker in Russia’s Far East, is considering laying off up to 1,600 people, or 25 percent of its staff, until September, Amurmetal Group chief executive Sergei Khokhlov said Wednesday. |
All photos from issue.
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 MOSCOW — There were tears, rubber hammers and an inflatable pink tank on Tuesday night, as 18 contestants were narrowed down to 10 in the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest. Going through to the final are performers representing Israel, Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Malta, Armenia, Turkey, Romania, Finland, Portugal and Iceland. |
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MOSCOW — Russia’s security is threatened by economic instability, potential wars over energy resources and foreign spies, the Kremlin said in a key policy paper released Wednesday. |
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Passenger traffic in St. Petersburg metro has decreased by 10 percent since last November, said the metro’s press service. “We haven’t got any sociologic research about the reasons of the drop,” said St. Petersburg metro spokeswoman Yulia Shavel. “However, according to information from our end stations, there are now significantly less people coming to work in St. |
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MOSCOW — Russia and Japan agreed on Tuesday to expand their cooperation in the nuclear industry as part of a visit to Tokyo by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who presided over a deal that will open the way for contracts worth billions of dollars between the world’s two leading nuclear technology powers. |
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MOSCOW — The MICEX Stock Exchange is gaining back some of its lost trading volume after a brutal autumn in which market conditions pushed the trading of many Russian securities onto the London Stock Exchange, Federal Service for Financial Market head Vladimir Milovidov said Wednesday. |
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MOSCOW — Italian developer Todini Costruzioni Generali has offered to invest in an Olympic project in Sochi for the 2014 Games, Olimpstroi said Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Olimpstroi, the state corporation tasked with Olympic preparations, said her firm was currently reviewing TCG’s proposal. She declined to provide details, but Kommersant reported Wednesday that TCG plans to build two housing projects that are to be used as hotels during the games under a public-private program proposed by the government. |
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 There has always been an acute shortage of optimism in Russia. It could be because of the country’s harsh climate or its troubled history. Nonetheless, optimists do emerge from time to time. If he is a politician, he is traditionally dismissed as a populist. |
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Georgian authorities quelled a planned coup last week, and the purported ringleaders — Giya Gvaladze, Koba Kobaladze and Giya Karkarashvili — have been arrested. |
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 The Soviet Union, despite a glut of pop singers seemingly designed for the contest, never took part in the Eurovision Song Contest. It took the breakup of the superpower to bring Russian pop to the contest, although it wasn’t until 1994 that Russia entered, sending Masha Kats, a naive, young Jewish girl who had never been abroad, to the final in Dublin. |
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Ïðîøó Âàñ: I request that you ... All bureaucracies are miserable, but each is miserable in its own way. Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time in line, trying to resolve a backlog of bureaucratic bother. |
 The Mikhailovsky Theater, which has already earned a reputation as a popular venue for hosting varied international projects, is to take part in the Year of France in Russia program. Next Saturday, on May 23, the French ensemble Matheus will be performing a concert entitled “To Farinelli,” commemorating the 18th-century castrato singer. Early music and the music of the Baroque era is the focus of this renowned orchestra’s repertoire. |
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 The brides wore white satin and pinstripes Tuesday morning as Irina Shepitko and Irina Fedotova-Fet tried to register the country’s first-ever lesbian marriage. |
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The one auspicious thing about Russian Holidays is the fitness club that shares its entryway: You’ll need a trot on the treadmill after dining on the restaurant’s rib-sticking, Russified reduction of European cuisine. Otherwise, everything’s slightly off at the young restaurant. Stranded on the Strelka of Vasilievsky Island, Russian Holidays opened December 1 on the premises of the erstwhile nightclub Plaza and the restaurant-pub Greenwich, both of which went the way of the dodo. According to our energetic, informative waiter, the restaurant is making plans to co-opt the functions of these former establishments by offering live music on weeknights and operating as a disco-club on weekends. |
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 The black car of non-Russian make was going the wrong way down Pokrovka on Wednesday morning at a speed that said either a pregnant woman’s water had just broken or an idiot bureaucrat was inside and late for a meeting. |
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 LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday suspended a Labour Party MP over embarrassing expenses claim revelations, in a row rocking all political parties. The suspension of former agriculture and environment minister Elliot Morley came hours after opposition Conservatives announced the resignation of an aide to leader David Cameron, the first scalp in the expenses controversy. |
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MADRID — Barcelona stayed on course for an historic treble by crushing Athletic Bilbao 4-1 at the Mestalla Stadium on Wednesday to lift the Kings Cup for the first time in over a decade. Gaizka Toquero headed Bilbao into a ninth-minute lead, but Yaya Toure equalised with a great solo goal and then Barca blitzed their rivals with three goals from Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and Xavi in 12 minutes to lift the cup for the first time since 1998. |
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PARIS (AFP) – Maria Sharapova has announced her return to singles action after an eight-month injury layoff in the Warsaw WTA tournament starting on May 18. |
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