LOCAL NEWS

CARDS MUDDY VISA ENTRY PROCESS

A new immigration-card system for foreigners in Russia that came into effect on Feb. 14 may make life a little more difficult for holders of Russian visas who regularly leave and re-enter the country. The system, introduced in line with new legislation targeted at reducing the number of illegal aliens in the country, has already generated some confusion, with the responsible agencies often providing inaccurate or conflicting information.

INVESTIGATION TAGETS LATEST VICE GOVERNOR

The Northwest Region Prosecutor's Office has initiated a criminal investigation for abuse of office against Vice Governor Valentin Mettus, the head of the City Hall Sports and Communications Committee, making him the fifth high-ranking official - and the second to hold that post - to come under its scrutiny within last two years.

NATIONAL NEWS

ZORKIN BACK AS CHIEF OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

MOSCOW - A controversial former chief judge of the Constitutional Court, who quit in 1993 after unsuccessfully opposing President Boris Yeltsin in his violent stand-off with rebellious lawmakers, was elected to the post once again on Friday.

In a surprising decision, 10 of the court's 19 judges cast their ballots for Valery Zorkin, who served as the court's first chairperson for nearly two years after its creation in October 1991 and has remained a judge on the court ever since.

IN BRIEF

Mideast Road Map

MOSCOW (AP) - Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Friday warned against trying to modify the "road map" for a Mideast peace settlement, and a top Palestinian representative said the Palestinian authority was calling for a one-year suspension of violence.

MATVIYENKO PREACHING TO WRONG AUDIENCE

Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko joined the long list of uprooted St. Petersburgers who have left their new digs in Moscow for a short while to grace their hometown with their views on the prospects of the upcoming 300th-anniversary celebrations.

DEPUTY PM ADOPTS REASSURING TONE ABOUT CELEBRATIONS

Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko said on Thursday that preparations for the city's 300th-anniversary celebrations were being carried out effectively, but that the federal commission in charge of prepararing for the large number of official guests expected for the occasion was overloaded.

PRIEST DENIED NEW RESIDENCE PERMIT

Russian authorities refused to renew a residence permit for a Roman Catholic priest who had been working in Russia for 10 years, church officials said Monday.

Pushkin city police told Father Bronislaw Czaplicky, a Polish citizen, to leave the country in two weeks, Reverend Igor Kovalevsky, head of the confederation of Catholic priests in Russia, told Gazeta.

DUMA OKS REGIONAL REFORM BILL

MOSCOW - After some four hours of debate, the State Duma on Friday gave preliminary approval to two Kremlin-backed bills introducing sweeping reforms to local and regional government.

Population Falls With Soaring Death Rate

MOSCOW - Despite a post-Soviet record in births, the population decreased by 856,700 last year, as the death rate soared to a high not seen since World War II, the State Statistics Committee said. As of Jan. 1, the population has slumped 0.6 percent to 143.1 million people, the committee said in a preliminary report issued Friday.

LOCAL BUSINESS

HEADS OF STATE TALK NEW ECONOMIC ZONE

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of three other former Soviet republics signed a declaration on Sunday putting forth their intention to take economic cooperation a big step forward and create a free-trade zone.

The declaration said that the move was motivated by the desire to raise the standard of living in the region and by the need for sustained development.

INVESTORS SNAP UP $1.75-BLN GAZPROM CORPORATE BOND

LONDON - Gazprom raised $1.75 billion on Friday in what is thought to be the largest corporate bond in emerging-market history.

Investors, the Financial Times reported, watched in astonishment as the gas giant's 10-year international bond sale was oversubscribed by an estimated six times and increased in size by 75 percent ahead of launch in response to bumper demand from buyers on both sides of the Atlantic.

LUKOIL BUYS $398M MINORITY STAKE

MOSCOW - Top oil firm LUKoil said on Friday that it had bought a small stake in an affiliate for a generous $398 million to further consolidate assets, but analysts questioned the deal's transparency.

Analysts said that LUKoil, which launched an ambitious restructuring and cost-cutting plan last year to improve its image and catch up with market peers, agreed to buy back a minority stake from unknown buyers in Russia's largest such transaction.

"It seems to be the largest sum ever spent in Russia to buy back a stake from minority shareholders," said Kaha Kiknavelidze from Troika Dialog brokerage.

LUKoil said that it had agreed to fully buy PFPG-Energy, a company that owns 27 percent of one of its upstream subsidiaries, LUKoil-Perm, for $398 million in cash.

FOLLOWING THE TRAIL OF MAGADAN GOLD

KUBAKA GOLD MINE, Magadan - Just two days before Magadan Governor Valentin Tsvetkov was gunned down in broad daylight on Moscow's Novy Arbat last fall, Kinross Gold Corp.

OPINION

THE VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SANDWICH

ALTHOUGH no-one seems to expect any major disruptions in Russia, 2003 has started with an unusually wide range of growth forecasts. And, accompanying these forecasts, there has been everything from exuberant optimism, particularly in the private sector (often voiced by foreign analysts), to gloomy predictions from semipublic think tanks.

WEIGHING THE RISK: THE NEW ECONOMICS OF WAR

A LITTLE more than half a century ago, World War II brought the United States and the world out of the Great Depression, earning for war a positive reputation - at least in the realm of economics.

RECORD OIL DEAL SHOWS WEST NOW DANCING TO RUSSIA'S TUNE

AN ambitious deal in the Russian oil sector made the breaking news this month. British Petroleum, one of the world's energy majors, and a Russian oligarchic grouping - Alpha Group in cooperation with Access/Renova - announced their intention to merge their oil assets.

GLOBAL EYE

Chemical Brothers

Six million marched for peace last week, but the Bush Regime and the Blair Regency were unmoved by this outburst from the ignorant rabble.