LOCAL NEWS

PULKOVO JET CRASH LEAVES 14 DEAD

A Pulkovo Airlines Il-86 passenger jet slammed into woods shortly after taking off from Sheremetyevo Airport on its way to St. Petersburg on Sunday, killing 14 of the 16 people on board, all from St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast.

The wide-body aircraft, which can seat up to 350 passengers, is generally considered Russia's safest, having never suffered a fatal crash in its 22-year history.

ANALYSTS WARN OF POSSIBLE ECONOMIC CRISIS

MOSCOW - Is there an economic crisis brewing - perhaps even one like the one that brought the country to a halt in August 1998?

There is growing concern among economists that the answer to that question is more likely yes than no.

NO BALTIC BUILDUP, SAYS IVANOV

MOSCOW - Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday that Moscow would not build up its forces in Kaliningrad as the Baltic states prepare to join NATO but insisted that keeping existing forces combat ready is a top priority.

Ivanov warned earlier this month that Moscow would "react" if NATO builds bases in Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. He said Russia could not rule out military measures in response.

But, in Kaliningrad on Monday, he said, "We are not going to respond to this by building up our forces in the Kaliningrad region and saber-rattling," news agencies reported. "However, the state of our forces in the region and their rearming are a priority," Ivanov said.

THE SEVENTH RUNNING OF THE "KNIGHT'S CASTLE" FESTIVAL WRAPPED UP AT VYBORG CASTLE ON SATURDAY.

Participants in the festival came from historical clubs across Russia. The participants had all themselves made the weapons and armor that was used, following historical techniques.

NATIONAL NEWS

KURSK ENQUIRY ENDS, NO CHARGES MADE

MOSCOW - Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov closed a criminal investigation into the Kursk nuclear-submarine sinking Friday, saying nobody would be charged because the disaster was caused by a technical malfunction - leaky torpedo propellant.

Ustinov also defended the Kremlin's handling of the botched rescue efforts, saying that all 118 sailors aboard died within eight hours after the Kursk sank in the Barents Sea on Aug.

FORMER FSB AGENT FACES QUESTIONS ABOUT ASSOCIATE

MOSCOW - Former FSB officer Mikhail Trepashkin, who helps an independent commission created by a group of liberal lawmakers to investigate the 1999 apartment bombings, was summoned for questioning by the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office on Friday.

IN BRIEF

Historic Bombshell

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - A bomb dating back to World War II has been discovered at a gas station situated in the Luzhsky neighborhood of the Leningrad Oblast, Interfax reported on Monday.

The bomb, weighing 50 kilograms, was found during work being carried out on the territory of the station, the press service of Emergency Situations Ministry's Northwestern regional center told Interfax.

LOCAL BUSINESS

ALEKPEROV MAKES IT INTO BILLIONAIRES CLUB

MOSCOW - LUKoil has partly lifted the veil on the identities of its true owners, but, with markets diving worldwide, this overture might not be enough to get investors to buy into the upcoming privatization of a 6-percent stake in the oil giant.

Vagit Alekperov, LUKoil's president, owns 10.

LENOBLAST MAY BREAK CONTRACT

The Leningrad Oblast administration may not meet its liabilities under an investment contract with Philip Morris, Governor Valery Serdyukov said at a press-conference last week, while, at another press conference on Monday, he described the difficulties of collecting excise payments for the federal budget as "daylight robbery.

AMERICAN BRINGS PIZZA, PANTIES TO SIBERIA

NOVOSIBIRSK, Western Siberia - When Eric Shogren was working hard to get a small business off the ground in Minneapolis in 1992, he could hardly have imagined that a decade later he would have made it big in Siberia.

But a chance introduction to a Russian entrepreneur changed all that.

SVYAZINVEST TOPS LIST OF SELL-OFFS FOR 2003

MOSCOW - The government hopes to raise 51 billion rubles ($1.62 billion) in 2003 through the sale of state-owned assets, the bulk of it from a minority stake in state telecoms holding Svyazinvest, the government said Friday.

ISRAELI ECONOMY FEELS THE PAIN

JERUSALEM - When the peace process grinds to a halt, this city feels the stoppage through all of its pores. The fear of more suicidal violence has nearly brought downtown to a standstill. Many stores on Jaffa Road, the main street along the spine of downtown in West Jerusalem, don't even bother to open at night, knowing they won't have customers.

FISHY BUSINESS TURNS TO SPORTS AND NORTH KOREA

Russia might not be a liberal country, but it's about to become much more "sporting." The Justice Ministry, which refused to register Boris Berezovsky's Liberal Russia party, seems likely to take a more favorable view of Vyacheslav Fetisov's proposed Sporting Russia party.

Looking on the Bright Side of White-Collar Criminality

What I'm about to propose reminds me slightly of the final scene in "The Life of Brian," in which the faux messiah and his followers, hanging crucified on a row of crosses, burst into happy song: "Always look on the bright side of life!" But you don't really have to be in a Monty Python mood to think that the cascade of grim tidings from Wall Street is, in many ways, good for the United States.

OPINION

RUSSIA AS THE TRUMP CARD

AMERICA'S war on terrorism and Russia's pursuit of economic engagement with the West reinforce each other and now dominate world politics. Only a decade after the end of the Cold War, American and Russian leaders are moving toward an era of global entente that will reduce the strategic influence of Europe, China and Japan on Washington and Moscow.

JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD SPORTS DAYS

IT is hard not to be at least a little bit skeptical about the real motives behind the creation of the Kremlin-backed sports organization Sportivnaya Rossiya, or Sporting Russia, which had its founding congress in Luzhniki Stadium on Friday - attended by the great and the good.

WE SHOULD KEEP THE ARMY AT ARMS LENGTH

SINCE noon Saturday, we have been overwhelmed by terrible television images: an SU-27 fighter jet skidding along the military airfield at Sknyliv near Lviv, a fireball, bodies scattered on the airfield, the injured covered in blood, shocked bystanders.

GLOBAL EYE

Strange Fruit

"By their fruits ye shall know them." And by their nuts as well.

The acorns of any presidential administration never fall very far from the tree - thus, the remarks made last week by one of George W.