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MOSCOW — Georgia bears the brunt of the guilt for starting the war over South Ossetia last summer, but Russia also committed a number of violations of international law, the European Union said in a much anticipated report published Wednesday. Despite criticism directed at both sides, Moscow and Tbilisi reacted positively to the report, each ostensibly picking the parts that suited its case most. “In the mission’s view it was Georgia which triggered the war when it attacked Tskhinvali with heavy artillery on the night of 7 to 8 August 2008,” Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, head of an independent fact-finding mission on the conflict, said in e-mailed comments Wednesday. |
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BACK ON TRACK
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Vintage tramcars on Ulitsa Belinskogo taking part in a procession through the city center on Tuesday. The event marked the 102nd anniversary of the city's tram service and carried survivors of the Siege of Leningrad, as well as former tram-workers. |
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MOSCOW — For years, the dream of many young Russian women seemed to be to marry a European or American man and move abroad. Not anymore. Women have grown more sophisticated as they travel the world and pore over Western women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan, sociologists say. In fact, one new poll indicates that only 9 percent of single women want to marry a foreigner nowadays, compared to 46 percent just four years ago.
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MOSCOW — Chechen investigators said Wednesday that they have opened a criminal investigation into hackers’ death threats made against President Ramzan Kadyrov posted on the Chechnya Today web site in late June. The threats to kill the Chechen president appeared on the home page of Chechnyatoday.com for several hours June 29 after an attack by hackers, said Mariam Nalayeva, a spokeswoman for the Chechen branch of the Investigative Committee. |
All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev is considering firing his main speechwriter as he looks to develop a style independent of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Wednesday. Medvedev has rejected speeches written by Dzhakhan Pollyeva, who served in the Kremlin during Putin’s presidency, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified Kremlin official. |
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MOSCOW — The Regional Development Ministry, concerned that the situation in 17 single-industry towns could collapse at any time, will classify such cities as either progressing or depressed as it determines which will get state help and which will eventually fall off the map. The ministry has prepared a document, a copy of which was obtained by Vedomosti, spelling out how the state will support cities that are overreliant on one industry. The plans include an algorithm for working with the towns, known in Russian as monogorody, said Andrei Neshchadin, a ministry official. “The problems are very complicated, and every city has its own. This isn’t something we’ll be able to solve in a year,” Neshchadin said. |
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 MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday lent his voice to a growing chorus of officials calling for the state to lessen its interference in the economy, saying it was time to think about privatization now that the country has come out of a recession. |
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The Regional Development Ministry has calculated that preparations for the Olympics will cost more than 1 trillion rubles ($33 billion) over four years, although analysts said the estimate appeared to be inflated. The ministry estimated that 1.05 trillion rubles, including 699.3 billion rubles from the federal budget, will be spent in 2009-2012 under the government’s program for Olympics construction and the development of Sochi as a resort. |
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 MOSCOW — As shoppers return to discount stores and markets, developers of some shopping malls scheduled for completion this year are looking to either push the date back or open at half capacity. “One-third of Russian food retailers are already using the discounter format, and it is becoming increasingly attractive for clothing and footwear outlets,” said Natalya Davidenko, of consulting company Astera. |
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MOSCOW — Property developer Open Investments is continuing to get rid of assets, most recently selling the Domnikov business center on Prospekt Akademika Sakharova in Moscow to companies close to Interros, one of its main shareholders. |
 Russia’s wealthiest woman, Yelena Baturina, has paid ?50 million ($79 million) for the largest private residence in London and will spend another ?50 million adding a cinema and 24-car garage, Britain’s Sunday Times reported. Baturina, who denied a similar report last year, rejected the latest one as “absurd” on Monday and threatened to sue. |
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 In his speech before the United Nations General Assembly last week, U.S. President Barack Obama said we are entering a new historical era. He declared that the United States would cease taking unilateral actions and called on all people of all nations to join together in combating the challenges facing the world. |
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A very long time ago, when Europeans began conquering the world, they encountered a number of strange societies. One was the Aztec Empire, located on the territory of modern Mexico. |
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 The press say The Tunics are “Catchier than those chilly primates” (The Fly) or “like the Arctic Monkeys with extra oomph” (Vanguard Online), but the British trio that neatly combines thrilling rock and roll and smart lyrics is still working toward a big breakthrough in their homeland. |
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By Michele A. Berdy Êîðîâà: cow; a person exhibiting bovine characteristics Way back in Russian 101, we learned the animal paradigm: êîò (cat) êîò¸íîê (kitten) êîòÿòà (kittens). |
 Seven St. Petersburg museums are participating in the annual Contemporary Art in Traditional Museums festival that kicked off last Saturday and runs through Oct. 18. The festival will see the most recent creations by Russian and foreign artists go on display at several of the city museums simultaneously, with the aim of promoting closer relations between traditional culture and modern art, modernizing the work of St. |
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Where Georgian restaurants are concerned, there is much afoot in or just outside of St. Petersburg’s “Golden Triangle” — the prime real estate area bordered by Nevsky Prospekt and the Fontanka and Neva rivers. |
 BONN, Germany — Valery Gergiev, Maurizio Pollini, Kent Nagano, Ingo Metzmacher and John Elion Gardner made a pilgrimage to Bonn this fall to take part in the Beethoven Festival — one of Europe’s most prestigious classical music events, which ran throughout September under the motto “In the Light,” giving center stage to extraordinary artists. |
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