LOCAL NEWS

TOP COP HELD OVER PROSTITUTION ALLEGATIONS

A senior police officer was arrested on suspicion of covering up a network of brothels in central St. Petersburg this week, the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General’s Office revealed Wednesday.

Major Vladimir Artamonov, 28, the head of police precinct 76, is suspected of abusing his official powers and organizing a business involving prostitution. The latter — the more serious offense of the two — carries a maximum jail term of six years.

The investigation claims that Artamonov was providing protection services to Sergei Ulyanov, 35, whom the police press release describes as the organizer of a chain of brothels.

DEAL STRUCK ON GAS, BLACK SEA FLEET

MOSCOW — Russia agreed to sacrifice $40 billion in state revenues by selling cheaper gas to economically hamstrung Ukraine in exchange for a longer lease of a naval base in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, the presidents of both countries said Wednesday.

President Dmitry Medvedev announced after a meeting with Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych that Russia would give a 30 percent discount for most of Ukraine’s gas imports.

DRIVERS FIGHT FLASHING LIGHTS, OFFICIALS WITH BUCKETS

MOSCOW — From a distance, Alexei Dozorov’s blue Toyota hatchback looks like the car of a low-level security officer equipped with a flashing blue light.

But up close, the light — which gives drivers, usually high-level officials and emergency services, the right to ignore traffic regulations — turns out to be a blue toy bucket fixed on the roof with a magnet.

MAN, 24, ON TRIAL FOR IMPERSONATING CITY’S POLICE CHIEF

St. Petersburg’s Nevsky district court began hearing the case on Thursday of Artyom Kopolev, 24, who is accused of impersonating the head of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast police force Vladislav Piotrovsky on the popular social networking site VKontakte.

Suspected Morgue Gang Leader Burykin Convicted

A former St. Petersburg pathologist was convicted Thursday of ordering several murders as the leader of a gang of morgue workers who went into business hiding the bodies of people killed in organized crime disputes.

Valery Burykin was found guilty of three murders and organized crime, for which he could face up to life in prison.

NATIONAL NEWS

PUTIN PROMISES $16 BILLION FOR HEALTHCARE

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday announced $16 billion in new spending on health care over the next two years in a plan that may boost his popularity ahead of the next presidential election.

The government will raise the extra funding from higher payroll taxes that will take effect next year, Putin said in his second annual report to the State Duma.

NEW FERRY SERVICE LAUNCHED BETWEEN PETERSBURG, HELSINKI

The Princess Maria passenger ferry began operating between St. Petersburg and Helsinki on Wednesday.

The ferry will depart from St. Petersburg on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 8 p.

SCIENCE ACADEMY SCORNS PETRIK’S WORK

MOSCOW — The Russian Academy of Sciences offered its verdict on Wednesday about the work of controversial St. Petersburg inventor Viktor Petrik: “It has nothing to do with science.”

Petrik is set to benefit from a tap water purification program called Clean Water, backed by the United Russia party and worth billions of dollars.

CHECHEN PRESIDENT ACCUSED IN 2 MURDERS

MOSCOW — Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov personally ordered the killing of his two powerful rivals Ruslan and Sulim Yamadayev and offered $1 million for shooting their younger brother Isa, Isa’s former bodyguard said.

LOCAL BUSINESS

FINNS TO MAKE SAUSAGES IN LENOBLAST

Finnish concern Atria opened a 70-million euro meat-processing plant 20 kilometers southwest of St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

The capacity of the new plant, located in the village of Gorelovo in the Leningrad Oblast, will be 90 tons of sausages per day, Sergei Ivanchenko, executive director of Atria Russia, said at the opening ceremony of the plant.

FOREIGN FIRMS SIGN ANTI-GRAFT INITIATIVE

MOSCOW — Foreign companies, including several involved in recent bribery probes in their home countries, signed an anti-corruption pact Wednesday in what they hope will be a step toward curtailing illegal business practices in Russia.

OPINION

THE CRUELTY OF CHANCE

In Russia, somewhere behind every event lurks the question: Who is to blame? In the tragedy that claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other Polish leaders, we can answer that question with certainty in at least one respect: History is to blame.

PUTIN’S MIDAS TOUCH

During his visit to Murmansk last Saturday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin demonstrated his concern for the people by “spontaneously” popping into a pharmacy unannounced to see if Arbidol flu medicine was available and at what price.

CULTURE

SAINTS AND SINNERS

How have attitudes to women been characterized during different epochs? Were women honored or despised? And how have various religions altered the image of woman? To answer these questions, the State Museum of the History of Religion has organized an exhibition with the intriguing title “And God Created Woman.

CHERNOV’S CHOICE

Dissident satirist Viktor Shenderovich was after all able to give a literary reading in St. Petersburg on Sunday as scheduled, though it had to be moved to a different venue after strange things started happening at the Estrada Theater, where the concert was originally planned to be held.

FEMME FATALE

The prominent Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky premiered a new ballet loosely based on Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” at the Mariinsky Theater last week, giving center stage to psychological drama.

Ratmansky’s choreographic rendition of the celebrated 1877 literary work — which recently topped the bestseller list in the U.

KOOKY KOMPOT

Nothing at the evening opening of Kompot last November hinted at the treat that was in store for the city. The opening party was a typical event of its kind, with vaguely glamorous types flitting around the small self-described caf?-bar and smoking slender cigarettes.