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 MOSCOW - The Cold War is out and global economic competition is in. And to be competitive on the world markets, Russia's economic growth must gain greater momentum. That was the main message of President Vladimir Putin's third annual state-of-the-nation address, given Thursday to an audience of about 1,000 government ministers, Duma deputies, governors, religious leaders and other dignitaries. |
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MOSCOW - In the popular Russian film "Brat 2," one of the heroes is issued a U.S. visa under the pretense of attending a computer conference in Chicago. |
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MOSCOW - In the biggest attack yet on Chechnya's police force, at least 21 elite OMON troops were killed Thursday after a land mine ripped through a convoy in Grozny. The blast came just two hours after President Vladimir Putin said in his state of the nation address that the military stage of the Chechen conflict was over. |
All photos from issue.
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 MOSCOW - Bribe-taking, illegal use of force and harassment are still running rampant within the police, a year after Boris Gryzlov was named the country's top cop, with the task of rooting out corruption. But one thing has changed - the victims are now starting to lodge complaints. |
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MOSCOW - With an outbreak of skinhead attacks from Moscow to Sakhalin and at least 10 foreign embassies issuing warnings ahead of Hitler's birthday this weekend, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared war against racially motivated violence. |
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MOSCOW - Immediately after President Vladimir Putin's speech, Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov wrote to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. He proposed that the two men work together on legislation on publicizing information on the government, he said. "The head of the state has paid attention to that, and I think that we should bring down the omnipotence of bureaucrats," Mironov was quoted by Interfax as saying. Mironov joined many of the political elite in praising Putin's address as a reasoned and balanced review of the past year with a clear set of policy priorities for the future. But some liberals asked whether the good intentions envisioned by the president would ever materialize into solutions to the country's problems. |
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 MOSCOW - The State Duma narrowly approved on first reading Wednesday the government's bill on alternative military service that allows young people of draft age to carry out civil service, if they put in twice as much time as in the army and can prove they are pacifists at heart. |
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RTR Head Named MOSCOW (SPT) - Long-time state television official Anton Zlatopolsky has been appointed general director of fully state-owned RTR television, Interfax reported Tuesday. He replaces Alexander Akopov, who resigned in February. The former executive director of TV6 television, Pavel Korchagin, has become RTR's chief producer, the station's press service said. |
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 LONDON - As Russia's economic situation has changed tremendously in the last five years, so has the annual Russian Economic Forum, growing from a small trading conference when it was born back in 1998 into a high-profile event with 800 participants in 2002. Since the economic crisis in August 1998, Russia has come a long way to win back investors' confidence by pursuing a tough path of reforms in all major sectors of the economy. |
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 MOSCOW - New Central Bank head Sergei Ignatyev on Tuesday nominated Oleg Vyugin and Andrei Kozlov to be his two first deputies, a move that is likely to please investors. |
 Giant plates of welded steel echo to the ear-grating sound of metal being hewed. Dwarfed by its size, workers head toward completion of what by May will be the first of two chemical- cargo tankers Baltiisky Zavod is building for a Norwegian company. Outside the dry dock, moored in the Neva River, is the first of three Project 1135. |
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MOSCOW - BP announced Tuesday that it would boost its stake in Sidanco to 25 percent in a $375-million deal that marks the latest chapter in a saga about the desirability and risks of Russia's oil industry. |
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Baltika Goes Baltic ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - St. Petersburg-based Baltika brewery and Latvia's Aldaris brewery have signed a licensing agreement allowing Aldaris to produce two types of Baltika beer Interfax reported on Tuesday. According to Taimuraz Balloyev, the head of Baltika, the Latvian brewery will produce Baltika No. |
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MOSCOW - Three-and-a-half years after the 1998 financial crisis wiped out almost 90 percent of its value in dollar terms, the benchmark Russian Trading System index has been creeping back up - although it still remains well below its all-time high of 571, reached in October 1997. |
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THE United States has officially demanded an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. Israel has vowed to continue its "war for survival." Meanwhile, the peacemakers shuttle sadly round the Middle East, oblivious to the fact that no one is listening to them. |
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HIGHLY placed government officials all started talking at once last week about the state's intention to reduce its share in the mass media market. Deputy government chief of staff Alexei Volin followed up with an interview published in the Gazeta newspaper. |
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EVERY self-respecting Russian leader has to have his own political party. At first there was just the one party of power - Unity. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov's Fatherland party could only aspire to that role on his home turf. In many Western countries, the party that wins an election forms the government. |
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WHERE is Osama bin Laden? While capturing or killing bin Laden wouldn't win the war on terrorism, not capturing or killing him would be a huge setback. |
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 "I felt a religious horror," is how opera director Dmitry Chernyakov describes the first time he saw Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Legend of the Imperial City of Kitezh" at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow while still a teenager. So it was especially exciting for Chernyakov, now 30, to receive two Golden Masks - Russia's highest theatrical award - for his own version of the opera, which premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in January 2001. |
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 St. Petersburg's leading alternative band is about to emerge from hibernation. Tequilajazzz releases its first full album of new material since 1999 and will showcase it at local club Par. |
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This year's Fuzz Awards concert lineup is not very inspiring. However, the Yubileiny Sports Palace is bound to be packed with screaming teenagers for the concert on Friday, as Russia's most popular act Zemfira is headlining - something she failed to do last year despite early promises from the promoters, local rock magazine Fuzz. |
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The latest offering - it opened in December - from the group that brought the city a range of eateries, from the impeccable Staraya Tamozhnya to the barely sanitary Stroganovsky Dvor, is Russky Kitch, a fun, mid-range place that doesn't take itself too seriously while still delivering an excellent experience. |
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Human Error To Blame SEOUL (LAT) - The pilot of the Chinese airliner that crashed in southern South Korea with 166 people on board told officials that his plane had no mechanical problems before it went down. The Chinese pilot, Wu Xinlu, was among 38 survivors of Monday's crash. |
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Morozov in Hospital ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - Ze nit's disappointing season took another turn for the worse Thursday, when the club announced that head coach Yury Morozov had been admitted to hospital with heart problems. |
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