LOCAL NEWS

POLITICIANS PONDER FALLOUT FROM WAR

World leaders gathered in Washington and St. Petersburg over the weekend to discuss the future of Iraq amid a growing standoff over whether the United Nations or the war coalition wins political and economic control of the fallen regime.

A U.S. call for a write-off of Iraqi debt got short shrift from President Vladimir Putin and his French and German counterparts as they met in St.

FEDERAL COMMISSION SLAMS LOCAL ELECTION BODY

A report from a State Duma commission examining the organization and holding of the Legislative Assembly elections in November says that the commission uncovered a number of election-law violations.

NATIONAL NEWS

U.S.-RUSSIA PROGRAM AIMS TO OPEN WORLD

A program to encourage dialogue between Russia and the United States got a boost from the visit to St. Petersburg this week of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens and James Billington, the head of the Library of Congress in Washington. The Open World Program, under which thousands of Russian politicians have visited the United States, will be expanded to the cultural sphere.

PROOF FOUND THAT RUSSIA BACKED IRAQ, PAPERS SAY

MOSCOW - Baghdad residents and Western journalists rummaging through a mansion that was once an office of the Iraqi secret police have turned up evidence that Russia provided Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, a U.

MUSCOVITES SAY COPS MAKE LIFE DANGEROUS, NOT SAFER

MOSCOW - If you're afraid of the police, you're not alone. A Moscow City Hall-sponsored survey has found that foreigners living in Russia consider the police to be the greatest threat to their personal safety.

"The greatest danger, we were surprised to find out and have to admit, is perceived to be the police.

PRIMAKOV'S TRIP FAILED TO STOP WAR

MOSCOW - Yevgeny Primakov said that President Vladimir Putin sent him on a secret mission to Iraq to plead with President Saddam Hussein to step down only three days before the U.

Africa to Russia, and Vice Versa

"Well, Uganda is the place to do it," Philip Arnoult was saying to two theater directors from Moscow and Tanzania as I arrived to interview him last week.

Arnoult has worked for years to build theatrical bridges around the world, including projects in Eastern Europe and East Africa that were separate - until now.

LOCAL BUSINESS

RUSSIA HOPES WAR REVIVES ARMS INDUSTRY

MOSCOW - War tends to fuel demand for guns, fighter jets and air defense systems from wary countries, and Russia is hoping the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq will lead to big bucks for its rebounding defense industry.

While recent U.S. complaints that Russia supplied Iraq with defense equipment in violation of UN sanctions cast a momentary chill on U.

PUTIN SLAMS HOUSING SERVICES

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin expressed outrage Friday with the lack of "basic order" in the housing and communal-services sector and demanded action be taken to resolve the present "mess.

RUSSIAN FIRMS BEHAVING BETTER

MOSCOW - There were no major corporate faux pas in the last three months of 2002, but 10 of the 25 companies evaluated quarterly by the Institute of Corporate Governance and Law saw their scores drop, the corporate watchdog said Monday. However, 11 of the companies rated saw their scores rise, led by St. Petersburg utility Lenenergo, which gained nearly 7 points to finish in a tie for fourth overall with Northwest Telecom at 64.95 out of a possible 100 points.

ICGL owns small stakes in all 25 companies and scores them on transparency, capital structure, shareholders rights, governance history, management, executive bodies and corporate risk.

LUKOIL PRESIDENT ATTACKS ENERGY GIANTS' LETHARGY

MOSCOW - LUKoil President Vagit Alekperov lashed out Monday at state-controlled monopolies for holding back the development of Russia's energy sector. Without naming names, he appeared to be targeting state-owned pipeline monopoly Transneft and state-controlled gas giant Gazprom.

EU POLICY STAYS SAME DESPITE CANCELLATION

MOSCOW - EU trade chief Pascal Lamy inexplicably canceled his trip to Moscow on Friday, but the message he was meant to bring from Brussels was delivered just the same - a bigger Europe is better for Russia.

With an accession treaty scheduled to be signed by 10 European Union members-in-waiting in Athens on Wednesday, EU officials have been making the rounds to assure key trading partners that they will benefit from Europe's largest expansion ever.

IN BRIEF

UES May Dividends

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Management of Unified Energy Systems is proposing 2002 dividends nearly double the 2001 pay-out, a board member said Monday.

OPINION

IT PAYS TO KNOW NEW VISA LAW

WHILE the new law on the legal status of foreign citizens has considerably changed procedures for foreigners in Russia, already causing problems to the foreign community, it seems this law was only a part of a global change in the legal reforms in the area.

THE UNDERLYING STRENGTH OF U.S.-RUSSIA RELATIONS

HOURS after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush received his first call from a foreign leader expressing condolences on behalf of his country.

ONE SUMMIT IS BEST

FOUR weeks into the war, transatlantic divisions over Iraq continue. After the summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Belfast last Monday, the leaders of France, Russia and Germany met in St. Petersburg over the weekend.

BUSH MUST NOT LET VICTORY GO TO HIS HEAD

AFTER the three-week military campaign that dispatched the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush may be tempted to unleash U.

QUICK VICTORY LEAVES MILITARY LOOKING SILLY

AS the war in Iraq winds to its inevitable end, uneasy reflections are taking over Russia's political and military elite. No one in Moscow ever seriously believed that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might indeed "defeat" the allied forces. But the speed and decisiveness of the offensive has bewildered many.

CHRIS FLOYD'S GLOBAL EYE

The Road to Damascus

As shovels scoop the shredded viscera of cold collaterals in Baghdad, and brisk hoses scour the blood from market stalls and children's bedrooms - festive preparations to make ready for the enthronement of the new lords of Babylon - we cast an anxious gaze beyond the barbed steel of the security perimeter, to a column of troops and ordnance rumbling toward the horizon.