LOCAL NEWS

CHECHEN PRESIDENT UNDER FIRE IN AUSTRALIA

MOSCOW — Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has come under fire in Australia after it was revealed that two of his elite racehorses would participate in high-profile races in Melbourne this fall.

Australian Green Party leader Bob Brown said neither Kadyrov nor his horses should be let into Australia because of the Chechen leader’s brutal politics.

“If this nasty character were to get his hands on the Melbourne Cup, it would be the lowest point in Australia’s sporting history,” Brown said, the Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.

Kadyrov is sending Mourilyan, a gelding that won this summer’s March Stakes race in Goodwood, England, to contest the Melbourne Cup on Nov.

PUTIN LINKS ‘BRAVE’ U.S. SHIFT TO TRADE

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that Washington’s decision to abandon plans to build a missile defense system in Europe give him hope that the United States would take further, trade-related steps to improve ties.

INVESTIGATORS UNLOAD ‘PIRACY’ EVIDENCE FROM ARCTIC SEA

MOSCOW — Russia on Friday unloaded evidence from the Arctic Sea ship onto a Russian warship, as mystery still surrounded the identity of its cargo one month after it was recovered from alleged pirates.

Russian investigators said aevidence, including arms and masks which showed the vessel was prey to piracy, was now on its way to Russia for use in a trial against the suspected hijackers.

FIRST RUSSIAN KILLED BY SWINE FLU VIRUS

MOSCOW — The first Russian to die after contracting the swine flu virus passed away in a Moscow hospital last month, just a day after being diagnosed with the illness, the Health and Social Development Ministry said Monday.

NATIONAL NEWS

OBAMA DENIES RUSSIA SHAPED HIS DECISION

U.S. President Barack Obama sharply dismissed criticism that Russian opposition influenced his decision to scrap a European missile defense system, calling it merely a bonus if the leaders of Russia end up “a little less paranoid” about the United States.

IN BRIEF

Okhta Center Approval

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The Okhta Center, a 400-meter skyscraper to be built by Gazprom Neft in St. Petersburg, has been approved by the city's commission on construction, Deputy Governor Roman Filimonov said.

LOCAL BUSINESS

FRAUDSTER MAVRODI GETS A MOVIE MAKEOVER

MOSCOW — In the early 1990s, Sergei Mavrodi, an unassuming, bespectacled mathematician, persuaded millions of Russians to put their savings into his MMM pyramid scheme.

Now the story of Mavrodi’s rise and fall is being turned into an action film, “Pyramid,” with a $2.5 million budget.

Last weekend, stuntmen fixed fuses into a plywood mock-up of a Chaika limousine as they prepared a scene showing an attempt by bandits to blow up the lead character’s car.

FRAUDSTER MAVRODI GETS A MOVIE MAKEOVER

MOSCOW — In the early 1990s, Sergei Mavrodi, an unassuming, bespectacled mathematician, persuaded millions of Russians to put their savings into his MMM pyramid scheme.

CHUBAIS: RUSNANO TO SELL $5.9BLN IN BONDS BY '15

MOSCOW — It took Chubais less than 20 seconds to accept his position at Rusnano.

Rusnano will issue up to 180 billion rubles ($5.9 billion) worth of bonds by 2015 in a bid to make up for lost government investment, chief executive Anatoly Chubais said Friday.

IN BRIEF

AvtoVAZ/Opel Deal?

MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — AvtoVAZ expects to gain access to Opel’s technology after Magna International and Sberbank buy the German carmaker, chief executive Igor Komarov said Saturday, Interfax reported.

SURGING STOCK PRICES PUT WORLD ON NOTICE

MOSCOW — This month’s rally in stocks put the rest of the world on notice that Russia is once again a place to receive hefty profits on equity investments.

As the markets soar to new highs this year, however, investors are left wondering whether the upswing is a signpost for a turning point in the economy or simply a temporary reprieve.

LEBEDEV: PUT MY KID ON BOARD AT AEROFLOT

MOSCOW — Tycoon Alexander Lebedev has proposed that his newborn son replace him on the board at Aeroflot in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to highlight what he says is continued weak corporate governance at state-run corporations, Reuters reported.

OPINION

FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL

U.S. President Barack Obama’s cancellation of the deployment of a silo-based missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic represents one of those rare cases when a decision meets the interests of all players. Many commentators hurried to portray the Kremlin as the biggest benefactor.

MUSICAL CHAIRS FOR BANKERS

We all know the rules to musical chairs. The kids circle the chairs until the music stops, at which point they all dash for a seat. The last man standing, if you’ll forgive the expression, is out, and so on until two kids are left circling just one chair.

CULTURE

Art and a Bored Judge at the Trial of Khodorkovsky

MOSCOW — Over the last couple of months, artists have headed to Moscow’s Khamovnichesky District Court to capture one of the biggest trials in Russia’s history: the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the country’s wealthiest man.

Thirty-five artists have been to the courtroom, producing a total of 400 sketches, portraits and caricatures of the trial and the best of them can now be seen at the Central House of Artists in Moscow.

TRAVEL

INDIA'S GOLDEN TRIANGLE: DELHI, AGRA AND JAIPUR

India is often described as a subcontinent rather than a country. The largest democracy in the world is home to 1.2 billion people of staggering diversity. Religions ranging from Jainism to Judaism have dedicated followings in India, and 18 different languages are spoken respectively by one million people or more, while many others are spoken by smaller groups across the country.

AIRLINES ADAPT TO WEATHER CRISIS

The global airline industry will make a loss of $11 billion in 2009, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The main reasons for the loss are rising oil prices, faltering demand and intense competition.

Estonian Capital Blends Ancient, Modern History

Many things have changed since visiting Tallinn in May 2007. Back then, there was still the occasional broken window — evidence of the riots that ensued after the Soviet-era Bronze Soldier war monument was relocated to a military cemetery from the center of town by the Estonian authorities. This year, it was quiet and beautiful.