LOCAL NEWS

ANTI-PUTIN PAMPHLET DRAWS CROWDS

Oppositional leader Boris Nemtsov caused a stir in central St. Petersburg on Friday when hundreds came to get a free copy of his anti-Putin report and his autograph.

Nine hundred and sixty copies of the report, titled “Putin. Results. Ten Years,” which lists incidences of corruption and abuse of power during 10 years of Vladimir Putin heading the country and government, were gone within minutes, and Nemtsov and several nearby activists were swamped by people eager to obtain a copy and an autograph.

CITY REAPS REWARDS OF ECONOMIC FORUM

City Hall signed contracts for more than 50 billion rubles ($1.63 billion) and received financial guarantees from Sberbank for infrastructure projects for about 100 billion rubles ($3.

NATIONAL NEWS

SOCCER PLAYER ARSHAVIN LAUNCHES OWN BRAND

Andrei Arshavin, a soccer player with Russia’s national side and London’s Arsenal Football Club, launched his own clothes brand in St. Petersburg on Friday.

Arshavin said that he had developed the idea of creating his own brand as he fought against counterfeited goods being sold under his name.

IN BRIEF

Bank Robber Arrested

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A man suspected of attempted bank robbery was apprehended on Friday, Fontanka.ru reported.

LOCAL BUSINESS

IN BRIEF

Popov to Keep Shares

MOSCOW (Bloomberg) — Russian billionaire Sergei Popov said he doesn’t plan to sell shares in MDM Bank, Russia’s second-biggest non-state lender.

Popov, 38, said he’s postponed an initial public offering of Siberian Coal Energy, the country’s largest producer of coal for power stations, which he co-owns, until at least the fall after markets slumped.

ROSNEFT PREPARES INVESTORS FOR END TO MAJOR TAX BREAKS

The tax discount on Rosneft’s crude exports from East Siberia will likely end at the start of next year, chopping off a thick slice of the state oil producer’s would-be profit, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said Friday.

SANOFI-AVENTIS OPENS NEW INSULIN FACTORY IN ORYOL

Sanofi-Aventis, Europe’s biggest drug maker, reopened an insulin plant in southwestern Russia under its own banner on Saturday, in a move hailed by the government as a step toward increasing the country’s pharmaceuticals self-sufficiency.

The Sanofi-Aventis Vostok plant, located in the Oryol region, 350 kilometers southwest of Moscow, will produce human and analog insulin — medicines Russia is currently importing from Germany — as well as a new model of insulin-delivery pens.

GASUNIE CHIEF TO SPEARHEAD SOUTH STREAM

ST. PETERSBURG — Gasunie’s outgoing chief, Marcel Kramer, will lead Gazprom’s efforts to build the South Stream undersea pipeline to Europe, giving the world’s biggest gas producer another international business leader to lobby a controversial project.

RUSSIA REDUCES GAS TO BELARUS

MOSCOW — Russia reduced natural gas supplies to Belarus on Monday after Minsk failed to settle a debt, brandishing again the country’s energy clout and raising the spectre of supply disruptions to Europe.

The flow of Russian gas to Europe via Belarus was not immediately interrupted after the reduction, Belarus’s energy ministry said.

FINANCE MINISTER KUDRIN SAYS GAS PRICE AND RETIREMENT AGE GOING UP

Russians face higher gasoline prices and a longer slog until retirement, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said, signaling potentially unpopular changes as the country heads towards elections.

BP Chief Hayward Plans Trip to Russia

LONDON — BP chief executive Tony Hayward is planning a trip to Russia to reassure President Dmitry Medvedev the oil giant is not on the verge of collapse, the Financial Times reported Monday.

Hayward will meet with Medvedev and tell him that BP can meet the cost of the liabilities from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, said the paper, without citing a source.

OPINION

MODERNIZE OR MARGINALIZE

Now that the global financial crisis has abated, this is a good time to take Russia’s pulse. We have just edited a book with 12 chapters written by Russians and Americans. The consensus from the authors was clear: Russia has weathered a perfect storm of oil price decrease, reversed capital flows and political isolation following the August 2008 war with Georgia.

IN NEED OF 6-YEAR PLANS

The ripples from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have reached the Kremlin. President Dmitry Medvedev said: “After such accidents, people will definitely direct their intellectual potential toward creating alternative sources of energy.

FEATURES

A GROWING CLASS OF WORKAHOLIC RUSSIAN FREELANCERS

MOSCOW — Polina Greus, a junior research associate in economics at Moscow State University, started freelancing as a textile artist by chance.

About four years ago, Greus stumbled across an ad for doll-making courses in the now-closed building of Detsky Mir, the FAO Schwarz of Moscow. She had walked into the store to pick up something for her 2-year-old son, Kolya, and ended up signing up for the courses.

MAYORS OUSTED BY ARRIVAL OF NEW ‘CITY MANAGERS’

When Yekaterinburg’s mayor gave his annual address to the city legislature two weeks ago, he had some rather unusual news.

“I do not exclude that this will be my last speech in this capacity,” Arkady Chernetsky told the 35 deputies.

TRAVEL

Preserving Traditions: Estonia’s Island of Kihnu

The small Estonian island of Kihnu lies off the beaten track, and is a real treat for visitors who do not like crowds of tourists, prefer to travel on their own or in a small group, want to immerse themselves in ancient culture or simply relax on the beach or in the woods.

Lying off the southwest coast of Estonia, Kihnu is one of 1,521 islands belonging to the Baltic nation, of which Saaremaa, with an area of 2,673 square meters, is the largest.