LOCAL NEWS

BEREZOVSKY WINS POISON LIBEL CASE IN BRITAIN

MOSCOW — Former Kremlin powerbroker Boris Berezovsky on Wednesday won a libel case against a Russian state television channel that accused him of organizing the 2006 poisoning death of former security agent Alexander Litvinenko.

The Foreign Ministry said the British court’s ruling would not spark repercussions from Russia.

State-owned media company All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting, or VGTRK, claimed in a program aired on its RTR Planeta television channel in April 2007 that Berezovsky had orchestrated Litvinenko’s death and accused him of providing British authorities with false evidence to obtain asylum in 2003.

The program featured a silhouetted man identified as “Pyotr” as its primary source to back up its claims.

OPPOSITION SIDELINED AHEAD OF ELECTIONS

MOSCOW — Russians will vote this weekend in the first major elections since disputed polls in October triggered calls from President Dmitry Medvedev for smaller parties to receive better representation in regional legislatures dominated by United Russia.

But despite Medvedev’s rhetoric, regional authorities have continued to back the ruling United Russia party and derail the campaigns of other parties ahead of Sunday’s elections, opposition activists and election monitors said.

KHASANSKY TRADERS REJECT CITY HALL’S PROPOSAL

Despite official reports, most of the businessmen forced out of the city’s Khasansky Market will refuse to sign a much-publicized agreement with City Hall, the head of the market’s council of business owners Viktor Dovzhenko said this week.

The agreement had been presented as guaranteeing the businessmen trading space in the yet-to-be-built trade complex planned to replace the market.

OMBUDSMAN TO VISIT FINLAND OVER RUSSIAN-FINNISH BOY’S CUSTODY CASE

Russia’s children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov will visit Finland later this month to establish the details of the conflict surrounding the Russian-Finnish child Robert Rantala, whom Finnish social services have placed in a children’s home.

NATIONAL NEWS

10 HELD FOR NEVSKY EXPRESS BOMBING

MOSCOW — A Moscow court has sanctioned the arrest of 10 suspects in connection with November’s bombing of the Nevsky Express train that killed 28 people.

The Basmanny District Court issued warrant arrests for Zelimkhan Aushev and nine members of Ingushetia’s Kartoyev clan last week, but Kommersant broke the news about the decision Wednesday.

The 10 suspects were detained in an operation led by the Federal Security Service in the Ingush village of Ekazhevo on March 2, Interfax reported. Eight suspected North Caucasus militants were killed in the operation, including the militants’ chief ideologist, Said Buryatsky.

ASYLUM SEEKERS’ DEATH LEAP LEADS TO PROTESTS

MOSCOW — Demonstrators have appealed for more compassion in Britain’s immigration policy after a family of three, apparently Russian, asylum seekers committed suicide after being denied refugee status.

About 30 protesters gathered outside an immigration office in Glasgow on Tuesday following the deaths of the father, mother and son who plunged 15 stories from a block in an impoverished Scottish housing complex on Sunday.

Kremlin Orders Probe Into LUKoil Car Crash

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday ordered Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to investigate a fatal car crash involving a LUKoil vice president that caused public outrage over a perceived police cover-up.

Earlier in the day, a group of well-known cultural figures signed an open letter to Medvedev asking him to personally oversee an investigation into the accident, which killed Olga Alexandrina, 35, and her 72-year-old mother-in-law, Vera Sidelnikova.

LOCAL BUSINESS

KREMLIN PREPARES TO UNVEIL ITS VERSION OF SILICON VALLEY

MOSCOW — In nine days, President Dmitry Medvedev will indicate where the future Russian Silicon Valley will be created, and one of the early favorites is the area near the business school Skolkovo in Moscow.

Among the possibilities for the Center for Research and Development, as it will be called, are St.

ANTI-MONOPOLY SERVICE PLANS GAS STATION CAP

MOSCOW — The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service wants to ban oil companies from buying and building gas stations in regions where they have at least 35 percent of the market.

OPINION

THE REAL FOUR I’S

President Dmitry Medvedev was elected president two years ago on March 2, 2008, with 70 percent of the vote, so this is a good time to analyze his midterm results. In a word, they are dismal. Medvedev did the right thing in not even mentioning his anniversary.

UN-SOVIET SPORTS

After Russia’s dismal performance at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, there has been a prolonged, heated discussion about who should be blamed for the failure.

CULTURE

HITTING THE HIGH NOTES

The State Hermitage Museum will play host to the 4th ‘Dedication to Maestro’ international music festival from March 12 to March 20, once again celebrating renowned composers and musical diversity.

A unique aspect of the festival is its openness to varied genres.

CHERNOV’S CHOICE

Yury Shevchuk slammed the Kremlin during an appearance by his rock band DDT at a music radio awards ceremony in Moscow on Sunday.

Speaking to thousands at Olimpiisky stadium, Shevchuk, 52, recalled the na?ve illusions of the 1980s Russian rock revolution and attacked his fellow musicians for “heralding the cops’ power on Red Square,” referring to a concert celebrating President Dmitry Medvedev’s presidential victory in 2008.

The Other Russia

“I see an era in which stale cafeteria food being served on golden glittering plates at high prices is gradually coming to an end.” So says U.S. chef and author Greg Easter, surveying the state of the dining scene in St. Petersburg. “Ornate decorations are always appreciated, but you can’t eat fleurs-de-lys.