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 In an unpredictable turn of events, Judge Sergei Yakovlev threw out the case Tuesday against one of the 12 Other Russia activists on trial in St. Petersburg, several days after Maxim Reznik, the Yabloko Democratic Party’s local leader, dismissed the charges against the defendants as “balderdash.”
Defendant Oleg Petrov motioned Friday for the case against him to be closed on the grounds that two years (the expiration term for petty crimes) had passed since he took part in a Strategy 31 rally in August 2010, and to the surprise of those assembled in the courtroom, the judge accepted his motion.
Reznik, a Legislative Assembly deputy — where he chairs the education, culture and science commission — testified Friday as a defense witness at the trial, in which 12 (now 11) activists of The Other Russia opposition party are charged with acting as the banned National Bolshevik Party (NBP). |
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FORMER GLORY
KRISTINA FATINA / SPT
St. Petersburg’s historic department store DLT opened its doors to shoppers Friday after a seven-year renovation process. Dom Leningradskoi
Torgovli (Leningrad Trade House) on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Ulitsa is now a branch of Moscow’s luxury department store TSUM. |
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St. Petersburg will join Moscow and nearly 50 Russian cities in holding a rally called the March of Millions on Saturday.
According to organizer Andrei Pivovarov, City Hall authorized the rally Tuesday after initially rejecting it.
The main demands of the rally, which coincides with the International Day of Democracy established by the UN in 2007, are the resignation of President Vladimir Putin, early elections, the release of political prisoners, an end to political repression and the establishment of social justice.
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A criminal investigation has been opened into the murder of Alexander Viktorov, rector of St. Petersburg State Service and Economics University (SPbGUSE).
Viktorov, 61, was shot dead near his house in the town of Vsevolozhsk outside St. Petersburg at about 8 p. |
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Bridge Replaces Tunnel
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — City Hall has found an alternative to the Orlov Tunnel project that was canceled earlier this year. |
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The former imperial estate of Peterhof is hosting a large-scale two-day event on Sept. 14 and 15, turning its annual closing of the fountains festival into a spectacular visual feast. Twice a year, when the fountains are turned on in May and off in September, Peterhof draws crowds of locals and tourists alike. An estimated 30,000 came to the fountain festivals last year, according to the organizers.
This autumn, the closing of the fountains ceremony is dedicated to the Russian victory in the 1812 Napoleonic wars. More than 600 musicians, artists and performers will join multimedia artists and lighting designers to plunge spectators into the atmosphere of the heroic military campaign, the show’s creators promise. |
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 The city’s Upsala Circus charity organization will hold the 5th Flying Children festival in St. Petersburg this weekend.
Upsala Circus is a real circus for children from social risk groups that offers them an alternative to life on the streets and gradually helps them to become polished circus performers. |
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A team of robbers stole boxes of cash from the Grand Model Russia museum in St. Petersburg early Monday after entering an open door to the facility and tying up multiple staff members.
Five burglars entered the museum — an 800-square-meter model of Russia with sections devoted to every area of the country from Kaliningrad to the Far East — and beat up the office accountant, deputy general director of the museum Olga Drukarenko told Interfax on Tuesday. |
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American Stabs Russian
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — An American who inflicted a knife wound on a Russian in the city’s metro last week was determined to have been the victim in the case after local police opened a criminal investigation into the incident, Fontanka. |
All photos from issue.
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 MOSCOW — The nation’s Paralympic team came in second overall at the London games, winning 36 gold, 38 silver and 28 bronze medals.
They fared much better than their regular Olympic counterparts, who came in fourth with 24 gold, 25 silver and 33 bronze. |
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MOSCOW — The controversial Moscow to St. Petersburg toll road will open to traffic in 2014 “regardless” of developments on the parallel Leningradskoye Shosse, senior managers said. |
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MOSCOW — A team of paleontologists said they have found “living” mammoth cells in remains discovered in Sakha republic that could be used to clone the ancient mammal.
But some scientists expressed skepticism regarding the find, saying they doubted living cells had been found and questioned why such a significant discovery had not been announced in a scientific journal. |
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s administration is opposing a Jewish group’s bid to have Russia fined for its failure to return historic books and documents, a dispute that has halted the loan of Russian artworks for exhibition in the United States. |
 MOSCOW — Television star Tina Kandelaki became the first Russian to pick up a three-year U.S. visa on Monday, one day after the much-touted visa facilitation agreement between both countries went into force.
Kandelaki said she was chosen because of her popularity on the Russian Internet. |
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MOSCOW — An opposition roundtable intended to unite opponents of President Vladimir Putin went largely ignored by the younger leaders of the protest movement, evidence that the protest camp is still in disarray, insiders and opponents said. |
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Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization will have a positive impact on the further development of franchising in the country, experts said Thursday at a press conference.
WTO membership will attract new business players into the country, including new brands willing to operate as a franchise, Tatyana Bogomyakova, business development consultant for Subway fast food chain in Russia, said at the press conference, which was devoted to franchising in Russia under the conditions of the country’s entry into the WTO.
“At the same time, many new foreign banks will enter the Russian market, and they will surely be willing to help franchisers financially, as this is currently being done through Sberbank’s ‘Business Start’ loan program,” she said. |
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 Bad attitudes and lack of state support are hindering the development of franchising in Russian, one expert said ahead of the National Franchising Festival due to be held in the city this week, which aims to address the issue of developing small and medium-sized businesses in Northwest Russia. |
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 Now that President Vladimir Putin has firmly aligned the government with the Russian Orthodox Church, he has moved on to create a new burden for the nation: A program to re-industrialize the country. Speaking on Aug. 31 to a Security Council meeting on the military-industrial complex, Putin said: “Over the past 30 years, our defense companies have missed out on several modernization cycles for a number of reasons — above all, chronic financing shortages. |
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Events of one August day in Russia’s volatile republic of Dagestan have once again highlighted how turncoats can enhance terrorists’ capabilities to carry out deadly attacks in the North Caucasus and other regions of Russia. |
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 Russia’s first large concert in support of Pussy Riot and other political prisoners went ahead in St. Petersburg on Sunday despite pressure from the authorities. Three people were detained for alleged jaywalking after the concert.
On the day of the show, Glavclub was surrounded by scores of OMON riot policemen. More than a dozen police vehicles were parked along the short Kremenchugskaya Ulitsa on which Glavclub is located, with more parked in the streets close to the location.
Called Free Pussy Riot Fest, the concert also aimed to raise awareness and funds for The Other Russia activist Taisia Osipova, who was sentenced to eight years for drug dealing in Smolensk on Aug. 28 in a case her supporters say was entirely fabricated, and for 17 people held under pre-trial arrest since the May 6 March of Millions protest rally on Bolotnaya Ploshchad in Moscow.
An appeal for the three jailed members of feminist punk band Pussy Riot, who were sentenced to two years in a prison colony on Aug. |
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ERARTA
THE LOVE AFFAIR
BETWEEN FASHION,
PHOTOGRAPHY AND
DANCE IS
CELEBRATED AT
ERARTA’S ‘DANCE IN
VOGUE’ EXHIBIT. |
 Scissor Sisters took Moscow by storm when they first performed in Russia in 2004. Back then, the country was almost exclusively toured by veteran rockers, and the New York five-piece was clearly in its heyday when it performed in the pouring rain in the Hermitage Gardens.
From the moment the band came running onto the stage, and Ana Matronic — one of Scissor Sisters’ two singers (and dancers) along with Jake Shears — sent her shoe into the air, the crowd was swept away by the bumping disco sound of songs like “Laura” or the unlikely Pink Floyd cover “Comfortably Numb,” and danced while twirling their umbrellas, or stood still transfixed.
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 The much-loved Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica will preside over the jury at the first St. Petersburg International Film Festival that kicks off on Sept. 21 as part of the Third St. Petersburg Kinoforum.
The festival’s competition program features 14 films by established European directors such as Mika Kaurismaki (Finland) and Alexei Balabanov (Russia) as well as up-and-coming talent from far beyond Europe. |
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Sept. 13 will see the fourth installment of the gastronomic Chef’s Discovery project, with the award-winning South-African chef David Higgs introducing a highly creative signature five-course meal at the More. |
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Ñòðàõ è òðåïåò: fear and trembling
I have a love-hate relationship with the word òðåïåò (trembling, quivering).
I love that the word catches and magnifies the smallest tremble or quiver in nature, like òðåïåò ëèñòüåâ (the trembling of leaves), òðåïåò çàíàâåñêè (the rustling of the curtains), or the old-fashioned òðåïåò ðåñíèö (flutter of eyelashes). When it is used to describe a person’s reaction to something, I love that it brings to the surface the most subtle emotions. It’s as if the language is so attuned to the world that it notices the passing of the slightest breeze and almost imperceptible human reactions. Or it’s as if Russians experience the most subtle emotions so intensely that they express them physically. |
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 As part of Rosphoto’s 10th anniversary celebrations, the State Museum and Exhibition Center for Photography is this month hosting an exhibit of 19th-century photography that brings together more than 100 images of the Russian Empire from the museum’s collection, including works by masters such as William Carrick, Dmitry Yermakov, Alfred Lorens and Sergei Levitsky. |
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Dutch flavor will dominate St. Petersburg’s art scene for the next two months as the annual Window on the Netherlands program gets underway.
Photo exhibits, music festivals, films, lectures and much more will be held at venues around the city including the State Hermitage Museum, Loft Project Etagi, Dom Kino, Tkachi Creative Space and St. Petersburg State University.
This year, the festival is something of a dress rehearsal for 2013, which has officially been designated the Year of the Netherlands in Russia and Year of Russia in the Netherlands. The topic of this year’s “window” is creative industries, and the festival focuses on contemporary Dutch art. |
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 Ballet in St. Petersburg may only just be coming to the end of its regular summer hiatus, but Erarta has stepped in to console those pining for it with a photo exhibit titled “Dance in Vogue” organized by Russian Vogue and Aurora Fashion week, among others. |
 The upcoming performance will be Placebo’s third visit to St. Petersburg. The last one was in 2010 to support its sixth studio album, “Battle for the Sun.” This time, the cult band has no new release, but is expected to play classic hits and probably a new single, “B3,” from its seventh album, which is expected to be released next spring. |
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Hanging with reindeers
Russia is changing before our very eyes and taste buds.
Dozens of restaurants, cafes and bars have been mushrooming in St. |
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 The Kurortny Rayon (literally the “Resort Region”) which stretches along the coast of the Gulf of Finland to the northwest of the city has as much to offer those in search of out-of-town activities in the autumn as it does to sun-seekers in the summer.
Sestroretsk
Sestroretsk is one of the most attractive suburbs of St. Petersburg, located in the south of the Karelian Isthmus, between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Razliv. |
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 School started early for a group of Russian teens spending their first year away from home in the United States — and it came with a few surprises.
Yulia Sherstyuk, a native of Veliky Novgorod who’s living in Soldotna, Alaska, was one of the many students to remark that U. |
 When Viktoria, a 29-year-old from St. Petersburg, gave birth to twin boys in June, it was not the beginning of a new chapter in her life. Rather, it was the completion of a job: Viktoria is one of a growing number of surrogate mothers. She was paid to carry and give birth to the twins by the Finnish couple who were their biological parents. |
Temp: -1°C clear 
Issues Archive