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MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed on Wednesday to revitalize gas-trade talks between the giant neighbors in a step that may lead to Gazprom taking out a loan from China to deliver the fuel. Medvedev and Hu signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in natural gas, as well as agreements covering coal and equipment trade, at a Kremlin ceremony that crowned the Chinese president’s visit to Moscow. At a subsequent news conference, Medvedev said a landmark loans-for-oil deal that the countries signed earlier this year sets the pattern for gas trade as well. “I think the use of that experience can bring good results,” he said without elaborating. |
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MUG SHOT
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
A visitor at an exhibition at the Stroganov Palace focusing on beer examines an unusual beer mug. The exhibition, sponsored by the Baltika brewery and featuring works from the State Russian Museum, opened on Thursday and runs through Sept. 10. |
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Mikhail Glushchenko, a former State Duma lawmaker from the Liberal Democratic Party, was detained on Wednesday at police precinct no. 58, where he was attempting to get a new Russian passport. The police suspect Glushchenko of organizing a triple murder, while some experts have also linked him to the murder of Galina Starovoitova, an ex-Duma lawmaker and champion of democratic reforms in Russia.
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MOSCOW — Mikhail Gorbachev has added crooner to his skill set. The former Soviet leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate said Tuesday that he recorded an album of old Russian romantic ballads to raise money for a charity dedicated to his late wife, Raisa. |
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Ex-Consul Investigated ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Finnish police are investigating an employee of the Finnish Consulate in St. Petersburg who helped take a boy of Russian-Finnish parentage out of Russia, the Consulate said Wednesday. |
All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — Leaders wrapped up a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on Tuesday with a whirl of activity: They congratulated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re-election; signed a declaration affirming a multipolar world; rebuked North Korea; promised to help Afghanistan; and pledged to allow more members into their circle. China — which competes with Russia for influence in the six-nation alliance that positions itself as a counterbalance to the United States’ influence in the region — offered a $10 billion loan to group members to counter the effects of the global economic crisis. |
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HOWZAT!
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
British Consul General William Elliott (l) and Australian Honorary Consul Sebastian Fitzlyon cross bats before a match between Australian and British teams in the Mikhailovsky Gardens on Tuesday. |
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MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev led the leaders of Brazil, China and India in discussions Tuesday on reforming the global financial system and lessening reliance on the United States at the first summit of the world’s four largest emerging economies. The four BRIC countries — which make up 15 percent of the global economy and hold nearly 40 percent of the world’s currency reserves — expressed interest in working more closely together economically, although the cooperation at the Yekaterinburg summit was mostly confined to symbolic gestures.
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TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia on Tuesday criticized Russia for vetoing a resolution that would have extended the UN observer mission in the breakaway Abkhazia region, saying it showed Moscow’s isolation from the world. Russia’s Security Council veto highlighted Moscow’s unwillingness to budge even slightly on the issues surrounding Georgia and the fallout from the war last year between Russia and Georgia. “Russia has used its veto power, which can be considered a failure of diplomacy,” said Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze. “The veto is like an atomic weapon — using it confirms the isolation of the user.” The small UN mission — about 130 military observers and more than a dozen police — has been in Abkhazia for 16 years. |
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 PIKALYOVO, Leningrad Region — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is revered as a hero by many residents of this small town after he forced tycoon Oleg Deripaska to pay their back wages. |
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MOSCOW — The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has annulled contracts worth 1.2 billion rubles ($38.5 million) for state orders because of typographical distortions in six declarations, and more than 2,000 other violations have been found and will be investigated. Using Latin letters instead of Cyrillic, as well as other typographical tricks, could be used to short-circuit the competitive bidding process. |
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MOSCOW — The Federal Consumer Protection Service said Wednesday evening that it would allow Belarus to resume sending its milk and dairy products across the border to Russia following another round of talks with a new delegation of officials from Minsk. |
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Businesses who thought that they were in for a tax break next year will be out of luck, and the government will try to fill other budgetary holes through tax hikes on gas extraction, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov said Wednesday. |
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 Soviet leader Josef Stalin and his henchmen discredited the word “sabotage” by accusing political opponents and their followers of the crime with reckless abandon. The dictionary defines sabotage as “deliberately disrupting an event, evading work or working in a deliberately dishonest or unscrupulous manner. |
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been re-elected after winning what he describes as a free and democratic election. The people living in Iran’s largest cities and the liberal public voted for his opponent, Mir Hussein Mousavi, but the poor, simple people — who make up the majority in Iran — voted for Ahmadinejad. |
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 This summer, St. Petersburg is rich in yachting events. The city is preparing to host the Tall Ships’ Races Baltic 2009 international regatta in July, and while this event is mostly for professional sportsmen, amateurs have their own competition — the Baltic Boat Show regatta, which takes place in St. |
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What was to be a stadium concert by Manu Chao next Tuesday was quickly moved from the Yubileiny Sports Palace to a club, it emerged on Wednesday, reportedly due to poor ticket sales. |
 This weekend brings the Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda to St. Petersburg as part of the 17th Stars of the White Nights festival. Under Noseda’s baton, the soloists and symphony orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater will perform Beethoven’s Coriolan overture and Symphony No. |
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Despite its prime position bang in the middle of Nevsky, Grand Cafe FR opened fairly inconspicuously at the beginning of this year. It has risen to prominence with the arrival of the summer however, which brought with it the emergence of several extremely tempting white sofas and tables onto the pavement. |
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Issues Archive