LOCAL NEWS

RED TAPE INCREASING DESPITE PROMISES

MOSCOW — For being just a small strip of gray paper, a foreigner’s registration can become quite a bureaucratic nightmare — especially when you lose it.

This is what happened to Austrian businessman Alexander Schachner this summer. He left the country without handing in his registration. When he tried to re-register upon returning in August, his consultancy firm was fined 400,000 rubles ($13,700).

Apart from the hefty sum, Schachner said, the biggest hassle for him was the many hours he had to spend at police stations and with Federal Migration Service representatives.

“I was forced to fill out incredible amounts of paperwork. I sat with officers who seemed to have little understanding of what they were doing but said there was no way out for me.

POLICE COME OUT IN FORCE FOR UNITY DAY

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev trumpeted ethnic diversity during the People’s Unity Day holiday on Wednesday, as tens of thousands of police officers hit the streets of major cities to make sure that fights didn’t break out between rallying youths.

The only fight erupted in St. Petersburg, where several nationalists attacked a small group of anti-fascist activists who had unfolded a banner reading “Fascism kills.

Medical Stocks Depleted on Fears of Increase in Swine Flu

As the number of confirmed A H1N1 flu cases in St. Petersburg reached more than 150 people on Thursday and seasonal flu and cold viruses continued to spread, feverish purchasing of anti-flu medicine led to a deficit in local drugstores.

By Thursday, the majority of drugstores in the city had run out of the most popular Russian anti-virus medicine Arbidol, as well as Oksolinovaya anti-bacterial ointment.

NATIONAL NEWS

ANTIFASCISTS BEATEN, THEN ARRESTED

Four antifascist activists were detained by the police after being beaten by nationalists at a “Russian March” rally in St. Petersburg on People’s Unity Day, a recently introduced public holiday, on Wednesday. They were charged with disorderly conduct and forced to spend the night at a nearby police precinct before being taken to court and released at 2 p.

MEDVEDEV GOES AFTER GANGSTERS

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a tough anti-gangster law under which so-called thieves-in-law, or traditionalist gangster leaders, could be jailed just for admitting their roles.

LOCAL BUSINESS

GENERAL MOTORS ENDS OPEL TALKS, SURPRISES RUSSIA

General Motors abruptly ended negotiations on the sale of its European unit, Opel, to a consortium of Magna and Sberbank, scuttling a deal that the Russian government hoped would help rescue its auto industry and further integrate its economy with the West.

The U.S. automaker’s board of directors voted late Tuesday in Detroit to scrap the sale, following seven months of heated negotiations in Europe and the United States.

H&M OPENS WITH BIG AD SPEND

H&M retail chain has spent hundreds of thousands of euros promoting its first store in St. Petersburg. The advertising market has not seen campaigns on such a large scale for more than a year.

AVTOVAZ GETS EXTRA $2BLN IN STATE AID

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the government would provide another 55 billion rubles ($2 billion) to support near-bankrupt carmaker AvtoVAZ and to settle its debts.

The government plans to pay off the company’s 38 billion ruble debt, most of which is owed to state-owned banks such as Sberbank VTB and Vneshekonombank, Putin said at a meeting on economic issues at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo.

NAFTOGAZ SAYS IT PLANS TO PAY GAS BILL FOR OCTOBER ON TIME

MOSCOW — Naftogaz Ukrainy will pay a $470 million gas bill to Russia on time, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yury Prodan said Wednesday, easing concerns that the state energy company might miss its payment for October supplies.

OPINION

MISSILE DEFENSE COULD BE THE SILVER BULLET

In the eyes of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the “resetting” of U.S.-Russian relations became a reality only six weeks ago, when U.S. President Barack Obama announced his decision to reconfigure U.S. missile defense plans for Europe. Putin called Obama’s step “courageous,” which, coming from him, is perhaps the highest form of personal approbation.

HUNTING TOURISTS AND PENSIONERS

At their latest training exercises, Russian riot police learned how to disperse a protest staged by disgruntled pensioners. This could come in handy because the new “protest season” has just opened.

CULTURE

‘TSAR,’ A TALE OF 16TH- AND 21ST-CENTURY POLITICS

MOSCOW — “Tsar,” a powerful psychological and philosophical drama about the nature of Russian power, opens in Moscow on Wednesday.

The film, about Ivan the Terrible, is one that connects to how the country is ruled today, director Pavel Lungin said in an interview.

CHERNOV’S CHOICE

The Paper Chase, a Dallas, Texas-based alternative rock band, will perform at A2 on Sunday. Formed in 1998 by producer-engineer John Congleton (vocals, guitar, programming), the band (sometimes spelled “the pAper chAse”) is known for its concept albums.

A COMPLEX LEGACY

The Days of Knut Hamsun in St. Petersburg are set to enable city residents to get acquainted with the legacy of one of the most controversial writers in the history of Norway.

In 2009, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Knut Hamsun, Norway launched a year-long international program commemorating its best known writer.

MOVING PICTURES

The second international MUSEEK music video festival kicks off in the city on Friday and runs through Nov 13.

The name of the festival, MUSEEK, is derived from the words “music” and “seek,” because its aim is that each spectator will be able to discover various music styles as well as recognize that music video is a form of art.