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 Another planning controversy is developing in the city, as more historic buildings in the center were demolished last week to make way for luxury apartment and office buildings.
Built by architect Fyodor Volkov in the early 19th century, the demolished buildings on the corner of Paradnaya Ulitsa and Vilensky Pereulok are known as the Preobrazhensky Regiment’s Barracks and used to house one of the Russian army’s oldest regiments, formed by Peter the Great in the late 17th century.
Following a public outcry, Governor Valentina Matviyenko ordered an internal investigation into the legality of a construction permit issued by the St. Petersburg State Construction Supervision and Expertise Service (Gosstroinadzor). |
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THE GREATEST GENERATION
Alexander Belenky / The St. Petersburg Times
Veterans of World War II and the Siege of Leningrad wave to crowds of spectators as they travel down Nevsky Prospekt on The Greatest Generation Monday as part of Victory Day celebrations. Russia celebrates victory over Nazi Germany in World War II on May 9 every year. |
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Alisa Founder Dies
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Svyatoslav Zadery, founder of the rock group Alisa and front man of the group Here You Go! died in St. Petersburg late in the evening of May 6, the musician’s official web site said, Interfax reported.
The artist’s funeral service was due to be held on May 10 at 11:30 a.m. at the Prince Vladimir Cathedral.
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 A court began hearing a criminal case last week against police officer Vadim Boiko, who is accused of hitting a man with his baton during a July 31, 2010 rally for the freedom of assembly.
Previously, the hearings for the trial that started on Feb. 9 were cut short, largely as a result of Boiko’s motions to postpone the hearing or his failure to attend due to an alleged health problem. |
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Pavel Balakirev, a 26-year-old cameraman on the local television news program Vesti on Rossiya TV channel, died tragically on Thursday when he fell off a sailing boat into the Neva River about 100 meters away from the Blagoveshchensky bridge. |
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Pulkovo airport has inked a deal with AT Express Group to launch a new shuttle bus service that will link the airport with the city center. The service will operate round the clock, with the schedule of shuttles being adjusted to the flight schedules so that all passengers can get to the city center without having to hire a taxi. |
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At the height of the celebrations of yet another anniversary of the end of World War II, a desperate local pensioner brought the poverty of Russia’s veterans into the international spotlight by sending an appeal to U. |
All photos from issue.
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 MOSCOW — Non-United Russia politicians of all stripes have united to denounce an initiative by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to form a nonpartisan group as little more than a ploy to save the ruling party from defeat in December’s parliamentary elections. |
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MOSCOW — As warm May weather revives memories of the smog that caused the capital to choke for weeks last summer, the Emergency Situations Ministry has offered assurances that it has control over the source of the air pollution — burning peat bogs and forests in the Moscow region. |
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MOSCOW — An ultranationalist was sentenced to life in prison, and his girlfriend received an 18-year sentence for the brazen daylight killing of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and a Novaya Gazeta reporter.
Nikita Tikhonov, 31, received the maximum sentence after the court convicted him of gunning down Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova. |
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MOSCOW — Investigators closed off the main entrances at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport for an hour last weekend to re-enact terrorist preparations for the January blast that killed 37 in the international arrivals hall, Lifenews. |
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NEW YORK — The U.S. government has defended the prosecution of Russian businessman Viktor Bout, revealing evidence it says shows he knew plenty about the world’s largest cocaine supplier when he agreed to supply it with weapons to fight Americans.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan described the evidence in papers filed last week in the case against Bout, who was extradited last year from Thailand to face charges that he agreed to supply weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC. The United States has labeled the group a terrorist organization.
Bout’s lawyers asked a judge last month to toss out the charges against him, saying he was threatened by U. |
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 MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev promised upgrades and dignity for the armed forces as a record 20,000 soldiers and officers marched across Red Square for Victory Day on Monday. |
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MOSCOW — The European Union will seek to halve its overall fossil fuel imports by 2050 under a new strategy presented in Moscow on last week.
The Road Map to a Carbon Neutral Economy by 2050 sets out a strategy for the EU to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to a mere 20 percent of 1990 levels over the next four decades. |
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Seeking to protect its Russian customers from counterfeits, Asti D.O.C.G, the Italian Consortium for the Defense of the Wines of Asti, has introduced a special system of stickers that allow every bottle’s authenticity to be checked. |
 MOSCOW — It has been struck by a suicide bomber, lashed by ice storms and suffered a plane crash in the last six months, but accusations leveled against Domodedovo this week could have more ominous consequences for the country’s most successful airport. |
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MOSCOW — Rosneft finds itself in a peculiar position this week after an international arbitration tribunal decided to give it the last word on a $16 billion tie-up — not with BP as it had hoped but rather with TNK-BP, a smaller rival that it has expressedly not wanted to work with. |
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MOSCOW — The Finance Ministry is looking to collect additional billions of dollars by raising taxes on the natural gas industry, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on May 5.
The ministry expects to reap an extra 150 billion rubles ($5.5 billion) if the gas production tax is increased — an idea that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin approved for consideration, Kudrin said. |
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MOSCOW — Russians buying real estate abroad tend to purchase property in Europe for investment purposes and are seeing up to 12 percent annual returns, a real estate agency said last week. |
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MOSCOW — The government has selected 30 investment projects worth 145 billion rubles ($5.3 billion) in agriculture, tourism and information technology as part of an ambitious program to develop the North Caucasus through 2025, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said last week.
A total of 50 billion rubles in state guarantees will be provided this year to support the investment projects in the restive region, Putin said at a government meeting in Yessentuki in the Stavropol region on May 4. |
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 Western analysts assume that a second presidency for Dmitry Medvedev would offer a markedly different and more liberal perspective for Russia from what could be expected if Prime Minister Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin. But few Russian observers are confident of this. |
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There were three women waiting in line, differing widely in age. Although they were surrounded by shoppers, the place where they were waiting wasn’t dispensing medicines, food, or fashion items. |
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 Legendary New York noise pioneers Swans will headline SKIF 15 — the 15th Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival — an annual festival of all kinds of off-beat music that kicks off this week.
Dedicated to the late local avant-garde rock and jazz pianist, SKIF has always brought some interesting and challenging international artists to the city, but this year’s lineup is perhaps even more stimulating than usual. |
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 A performance about the life of Russia’s best-loved poetess is the only new opera to be commissioned by the Paris Opera (Bastille) for the 2010-2011 season. |
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German hard rock band Scorpions will come to perform its last concert in St. Petersburg this week. If the band — which is now on its Farewell Tour — is not lying, this is good news.
Scorpions is one of the most hideous bands ever, although its possible departure will probably leave some Russians with somewhat mixed feelings. |
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Âûõîä: exit, withdrawal, outing, secession, entrance, appearance, etc.
As the tanks and troops rehearsing for the Victory Day parade in Moscow rattled my windows, created traffic jams of diverted cars in my courtyard and terrified my dog, I wondered why I was in Moscow and not out at the dacha. |
 In-Temporalis, a musical duo founded four years ago in St. Petersburg who have attracted attention, praise and criticism from all over Russia and beyond for their innovative renditions of classics, will perform on May 18 in Smolny Cathedral.
The musical project consists of two musicians: Polina Fradkina, who plays classical piano, and Yoel Gonzalez, who plays percussion. The pair of musical polyglots introduce audiences to music from various times and cultures, combining musical styles that may at first seem irreconcilable. |
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 Last week, a former diplomat-turned-blogger unveiled his vision of how to save Russia: borrowing Prince Harry from Britain and crowning him tsar to rule over us. |
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The Admiralty end of Voznesensky Prospekt once looked as if it were gearing up to become the equivalent of London’s Brick Lane, with two Indian restaurants located next door to one another. Following prolonged, some might say perpetual, construction work, however, it is finally beginning to reveal itself as the city’s hotel center. |
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 MOSCOW — Food could cost 15 percent less, communications could go down by 10 percent, and real estate could be 25 to 30 percent cheaper.
The problem is bureaucracy and legalized corruption, government experts say.
A group analyzing the competitive environment of Russia’s economy, as part of an update to the overall national development strategy, has identified defective institutions that impede business activity and economic growth and are part of the cause of higher prices for goods and services. |
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 MOSCOW — Lawyer Mikhail Barshchevsky stands in front of a painting depicting a wooden peasant house buried among high snowdrifts.
“It’s beautiful,” Barshchevsky said, pointing to the canvas in a golden frame, harmonizing with the wall covered in dark-green fabric on which it is displayed. |
Temp: -1°C clear 
Issues Archive