LOCAL NEWS

CRITICISM MOUNTSOVER 300 EXPENSES

According to Kremlin representatives, President Vladimir Putin is pushing for Russia's government and ministries to maintain the tempo of reconstruction in St. Petersburg that has been generated by the 300th anniversary.

But, this week, Federal Audit Chamber head Sergei Stepashin joined the chorus of voices saying that the money transferred from the federal budget so far hasn't been used properly.

At a Federation Council commission meeting earlier this week, Stepashin said that about 1 billion rubles of federal funds had been misallocated in relation to the anniversary, according to the Kommersant daily.

Stepashin said that he had already sent materials to the Prosecutor General's Office from a recent investigation by the Federal Audit Chamber on the use of the money transferred from the federal budget to prepare for the jubilee.

FRENCH PROVIDE ALTERNATIVE FOR HOLIDAY WEEKEND

If you are looking for something a little different to do over the long holiday weekend and don't feel like sticking with the Russian national theme, then a group of French ships that will be moored on Naberezhnaya Lieutenanta Shmidts could be interesting for a visit.

NATIONAL NEWS

RUSSIA MARKS ANNUAL 'INDEPENDENCE DAY'

MOSCOW - Military jets thundered over Red Square on Thursday as Moscow marked the Day of the Declaration of Russian State Sovereignty - generally referred to as "Independence Day - with a parade that had strong echoes of the communist era.

They were the first non-emergency planes to fly over the capital's center for nearly 50 years, not counting the daredevil stunt by German teenager Matthias Rust, who landed a light plane on Red Square in 1987.

CITYSTATE

Regardless of when the powers that be decide elections to replace Governor Vladimir Yakovlev will ultimately be held (September, December and next April are all still possible dates), the two-person list of the most likely candidates at present ensures that this will be an election of firsts.

VOX POPULI

Thursday was a day off for most people in Russia but, it appears, very few people know exactly why this was the case. Although the official name for the holiday is the "Day of the Declaration of Russian State Sovereignty," a poll by the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research found that the majority of" Russians - 65 percent - refer to the holiday simply as "Independence Day.

LOCAL BUSINESS

METRO MAKING TRACKS TOWARDS THE REGIONS

MOSCOW - Firmly established in Moscow and St. Petersburg after just 18 months, Metro AG is now embarking on an aggressive expansion into the regions, including breaking ground by the end of the year on its first outlet in an undisclosed city in the Volga-Don region.

GOLDEN SEES 2003 SALES UP $340M, 20 PERCENT

MOSCOW - Telecom and Internet provider Golden Telecom expects sales this year to jump 20 percent to $340 million, company president Alexander Vinogradov said Tuesday.

$100 Bln Bill for Land Puts RSPP in a Lather

MOSCOW - The Property Ministry has recommended that business owners purchase the real estate on which their enterprises are located before Jan. 1, but the country's biggest business lobby group, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, or RSPP, says that doing so would cost investors $100 billion.

CULTURE

JAZZING ABOUT ON THE RIVER

This year's jazz-boat season, a traditional St. Petersburg summer entertainment, opened on Wednesday. After their impressive success last year, the boats this year are scheduled to run twice weekly, on Wednesday and Saturday.

The boats are organized by the city's oldest surviving jazz club, Kvadrat, which now is a rather loose organization of some 25 to 30 jazz musicians who, until recently, met on Mondays for jam sessions and social events.

CHERNOV'S CHOICE

Boris Grebenshchikov and Akvarium will play two concerts this week at Lensoviet Palace of Culture on Friday and Saturday. The band is showcaseing its new album, "Pesni Rybaka" ("Fisherman's Songs"), which was released on May 15.

unfinished monkish business

There's an old joke about a traveler who knocks on the door of a monastery late in the evening seeking food and a bed for the night. This being an English monastery - and, therefore, presumably before Henry VIII hived off the English church from Rome so he could get divorced - the traveler is served fish and chips.