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 MOSCOW — Conflict-torn republics in the North Caucasus will be united in a new federal district overseen by newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin, President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday. The surprise announcement redraws the seven so-called “super regions” established by then-President Vladimir Putin in May 2000 to reassert federal authority over provinces that had largely enjoyed autonomy in the 1990s. The shift also serves as an indication of how seriously the Kremlin is treating the threat of escalating violence in the North Caucasus, which includes Chechnya. But the appointment of Krasnoyarsk Governor Khloponin, a weathered politician with a past in big business, suggests that the Kremlin wants to shift its focus away from the seemingly never-ending fight against insurgents to building a more stable political system there, political analysts said. |
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FAST-TRACKING
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
A cross-country skier passes the Bronze Horseman monument in central St. Petersburg on Monday. Forecasters are predicting lows of about minus 19 deg. Celsius this weekend. |
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MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday promised to step up the fight against the country’s dramatic demographic decline, boosted by the news of the first annual population increase since 1995. But Health and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova warned that a host of negative factors need to be tackled, including a looming drop in women in their fertile years and sky-high abortion rates.
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Clearing up the consequences of the recent heavy snowfalls in St. Petersburg will cost a billion rubles ($33 million), City Hall announced on Wednesday. Clearing courtyards of snow and removing icicles from roofs will cost about 420 million rubles, while clearing streets and roads will require a further 600 to 800 million rubles, St. |
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The recent murder of a Ghanaian man, which appears to be racially motivated, is under investigation in St. Petersburg, while the police prevented two anti-fascist rallies in the center this week. |
All photos from issue.
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MOSCOW — A Spanish initiative to ease visa requirements for Russians and EU citizens alike has enough political support among European leaders to continue even after Madrid’s six-month EU presidency ends this summer, EU officials said. “In Europe we appreciate the Russians, and we would be happy to see more Russians,” Spanish Ambassador Juan Antonio Pujol told reporters Wednesday. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos announced during a visit to Moscow last week that Madrid would push for a road map toward easier visa rules for both sides. Pujol said the plan was broadly supported among the EU’s 27 member states, explaining that no country voiced opposition to Moratinos’ initiative during an earlier meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers. |
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YEAR OF THE TEACHER
Mikhail Klimentyev / RIA-NOVOSTI / Reuters
President Dmitry Medvedev gives a speech in St. Petersburg on Thursday at the Year of the Teacher opening ceremony. |
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Budget Airline Launch ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The budget airline Ryanair, which last December announced the opening of a new route from Lappeenranta in Finland to Dusseldorf in Germany from April 1 of this year, announced this week that it would be bringing the launch forward to March 4. The company decided to switch to an earlier launch date due to unexpectedly high demand for tickets, Fontanka news portal reported.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s economy ranks 143rd in a list of the world’s freest economies, just one spot higher than countries with “repressed” economies like Vietnam, Ecuador, Belarus and Ukraine, according to a report released Wednesday. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative U. |
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MOSCOW — A British court has ruled that the word “vodka” can only be applied to products meeting characteristics spelled out in European law, with Justice Richard Arnold saying it deserves the same legal protections as champagne and Swiss chocolate. |
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Fight Against Fraud MOSCOW (SPT) — The Federal Migration Service and the Association of Russian Banks agreed on Wednesday to step up cooperation to fight fraud, including measures to alert banks to fake passports. They also proposed drafting legislation that would eliminate the requirement for banks to get migration card and visa information when opening accounts for foreigners, the ARB said. |
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 A year ago, on Jan. 9, 2009, Alexander Berdnikov, governor of the Altai republic, escorted a group of poachers that included presidential envoy to the State Duma Alexander Kosopkin and Altai Deputy Governor Anatoly Bannykh on a hunting trip. The “hunters” onboard the Mi-171 helicopter owned by Gazpromavia flew in the direction of the Mongolian border in the Kosh-Agach district of the Altai republic. |
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The earthquake in Haiti serves as a disturbing reminder that the number of victims in an earthquake depends less on the magnitude of the quake and much more on the social conditions in the country. |
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 Danish cinema is not depressing; it can be positive and fun, according to the organizers of the first festival of Danish cinema in St. Petersburg, which opened Thursday and runs through Sunday. The festival aims to showcase the best films produced by graduates of the National Film School of Denmark during the last 30 years. |
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Ìóëüò Ëè÷íîñòè: Cartoon of Personality, a series of short animation, wordplay on êóëüò ëè÷-íîñòè (personality cult) If you missed it, the big news in Russia over the holidays was a short cartoon of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin singing ÷àñòóøêè (irreverent rhyming ditties). |
 MACAU — After making its China debut in Shanghai last October, the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre, directed by the impresario Konstantin Tachkin, in early January toured Macau. Neighboring on Hong Kong, Macau is the Chinese equivalent of Las Vegas. The company brought its fine production of “The Nutcracker” which is based on the 1934 version by Vasily Vainonen which was created for the Mariinsky Ballet. |
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 Last week, Channel One started showing a drama series set in a school, called — appropriately enough — “School.” After the first episode, a Moscow education official voiced the opinion that such shows should not be on television. |
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Entrance to Begemot, which was opened last year by the ever-growing Ginza Project in the former premises of the holding’s glamorous Tiffany Caf?, is via a metal detector. Immediately after passing through the detector, guests are greeted by a team of security guards, coat checkers, hostesses, and an immense stone hippopotamus, which on a recent visit was dressed up in a Santa Claus costume. The hippo makes sense — Begemot is the Russian for hippopotamus. An immaculate and elegant hostess leads visitors from the front section of the restaurant, with its long wooden bar, DJ set-up (roped off with men’s ties) and spinning club lights, through an area with rustic mismatched doors and windows on the walls. |
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 Mystery surrounds the future of a 16th-century Italian painter’s archive after it was bought by a Russian engineering company for 150 million euros ($225 million), even though the archive cannot legally be taken out of Italy. |
 A line of schoolchildren, bundled up against the biting cold, followed their 11th-grade teacher, Sergei Brel, as he picked his way through a yard littered with charred books and photographs. “We’re reading Venedikt Yerofeyev’s essay ‘Vasily Rozanov: Through the Eyes of an Eccentric’ in class, and I wanted to show my students where the poet composed the piece… while there is still something left of it,” Brel said. |
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