LOCAL NEWS

PUTIN SLAMS BELARUSSIAN UNION PLAN

MOSCOW - Two days after meeting with Belarussian leader Alexander Lukashenko, President Vladimir Putin came crashing down on his plan for a Soviet-style union between the two countries, making it clear that Lukashenko would have to curb his political ambitions, and that cooperation would hinge on Russia's economic interests.

EXPERTS SAY MOSCOW TO ASSUME KEY ROLE

MOSCOW - Russia could assume a key role under U.S. President George W. Bush's planned "strike first" defense doctrine, providing crucial intelligence information and acting as a go-between with so-called rogue states to deter conflict, experts said Monday.

NATIONAL NEWS

RUSSIA LOSES, BUT THIS TIME THERE'S NO RIOT IN MOSCOW

MOSCOW - Police beefed up security on Moscow's Manezh Square on Friday as thousands of soccer fans turned up to watch a widescreen broadcast of the World Cup match between Russia and Belgium, successfully deterring the widespread violence that erupted after a game several days earlier.

IN BRIEF

Classified Seizure

VLADIVOSTOK, Far East (AP) - Border guards in the Far East seized a package of classified military documents and aircraft parts on a train headed for China on Monday, Russian officials said.

LOCAL BUSINESS

G7 SHOWS SUPPORT FOR RUSSIAN ENTRY TO WTO

HALIFAX, Canada - The world's richest industrial countries on Saturday voiced their support for Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization, and urged Moscow to keep on the path of economic reform and clean up business practices so that it can sustain its recent growth.

A-PRESSEN ACQUIRES STAKE IN RUSSIA'S LEADING NEWSPAPER

MOSCOW - Norwegian media group A-pressen said Monday that it would pay at least $5 million for a blocking stake in the country's top-selling newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, controlled by tycoon Vladimir Potanin's Prof-Media.

GLOBAL BRANDING DEVELOPING A FOOTHOLD IN THE RUSSIAN MARKET

MOSCOW - Were it not for the Eastern European Merchandising Corp., Frodo Baggins' journey from New Line Studios in Hollywood to bubble-gum wrappers in Russia might have been as arduous as his travels through Middle Earth.

In a market where Western film and cartoon characters are routinely hijacked for use on everything from toothpaste to key chains, only a handful of licensing agents legally broker the deals between the studios that own the trademarks - but have no local presence - and local manufacturers, who can then confidently place Harry Potter on their T-shirts and Spiderman on their chewing gum.

BRITISH FARMERS ARE HEADING TO A FARMING KLONDIKE IN RUSSIA

MOSCOW - Under a project run by a British-based company, British farmers seeking new opportunities are coming to Russia to establish farms on rich but idle agricultural land in the Penza region.

OPINION

RUSSIAN MEDIA TRIES OPENING A BUSINESS

OF all the things written about the press in the past few weeks, something that appeared on the back page of Izvestia's May 31 edition made the biggest impression on me. The newspaper's management published its financial results for last year, approved by the main shareholders, Interros and LUKoil, and certified by auditors.

ORGANICALLY DEFINING STATE STANDARDS

DON'T smirk. Empathize. Walk in the other fellow's shoes awhile. Look at things from someone else's perspective.

OK, I'm trying now. I've got myself in a suit and tie and a Washington frame of mind.

CORRUPTED CAPITALISM VULNERABLE TO ATTACK

In the 2000-U.S.-presidential campaign, Al Gore tried to spice up his roadshow by lashing out against big business. He was laughed off the stage because the 1990s boom had made populist rants sound hollow. At about the same time, say between 1999 and 2001, anti-globalization protests vilified big business too.

TROUBLE IN MOSCOW, BUT BLINCHIKI IN DENVER

In response to "Police Take Rap for Failing To Stop Trouble," a June 11 article by Nabi Abullaev.

Editor,

In the article it is written that: "The ROMIR polling agency interviewed 500 Muscovites on Monday and 40 percent of them, the largest share, also put the blame on city police.

SUBCONTINENT A CHANCE TO STRENGTHEN NEW TIES

SINCE the demise of the Berlin Wall, hardly a year has passed without pronouncements being made about how the Cold War is finally over. The breakup of the Soviet Union, new strategic arms treaties, the aftermath of Sept. 11 and - most recently - the establishment of the NATO-Russia Council in Rome last month, have all been hailed as historic changes that bring the era of confrontation between the two former superpower rivals to a close once and for all.

KALININGRAD HARD LINE IS BOUND TO BACKFIRE

THE incredible week of nonstop East-West summits in the second half of May, at which the Cold War was "finally" buried time and again, ended with a new, potentially disruptive public spat involving President Vladimir Putin over the future of Kaliningrad.

Global eye

Hellraiser 2.0

Terror works. Terror pays. Terror feeds the bulldog. It's the first principle of any violent criminal organization: scare the hell out of the people you're trying to control. Just ask the Mob. Ask bin Laden and his boys.

Or ask the Bush regime, which has just launched a two-pronged assault in its increasingly desperate bid to deflect attention from revelations about its incredible - some might say incomprehensible - failure to stop what we now know was the almost-certainly preventable terrorist attack on Sept.