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MOSCOW - The Cabinet on Monday approved a draft 2005 budget that boosts defense spending by 28 percent and promises to cover the government's ambitious social reform to switch Soviet-era benefits to cash payments for vulnerable citizens. The draft budget puts revenues at 3. |
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St. Petersburgers visiting France and Italy in tour groups this season are facing additional passport checks by the consulates that issue their visas after they return to St. |
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MOSCOW - Legend has it that Prince Vladimir converted Russia to Christianity because unlike Islam, it did not prohibit drinking. Six centuries later, Ivan the Terrible tried to capitalize on his people's love of drink by establishing a government monopoly on pubs. Vodka was even an incentive in Peter the Great's drive to Westernize Russia, when he decreed a goblet of vodka a day to each worker constructing St. |
All photos from issue.
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Starovoitova Trial Delay ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The trial of those accused of assassinating State Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova in 1988, which was to have resumed Monday, was postponed until Wednesday because of the absence of a defense lawyer, Interfax reported Monday quoting officials in the city court. Viktor Kalmykov, lawyer for Igor Lelyavin, was in Moscow on Monday to defend his appeal against the city court's decision to extend the period of detention for his client. On Wednesday the defense will start presenting its case. Defendant Released ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - One of six suspects on trial for belonging to the extremist organization Shults-88 was released Monday, Interfax reported quoting officials from St. |
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 Musicians and singers from England, Belgium, Sweden, America and Canada plan to produce a beautiful and melodious sound when they perform a concert in St. |
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MOSCOW - A top doctor said schoolchildren are increasingly at risk of coming down with physical and psychological illnesses, because they study in cramped and poorly lit classrooms that sometimes fail to meet sanitary requirements. The warning comes days before the start of the school year on Sept. 1, and the doctor, Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Health and Social Development Ministry's health welfare service, conceded that little could be done to improve classrooms this year. Onishchenko said 16 percent of children under the age of 14 developed chronic diseases due to their classroom environment last year. The children contracted intestinal and psychological illnesses and even developed bad posture, he told reporters last week after receiving the results of a national survey of schools ahead of the new school year. |
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 A week before the Chechen presidential election, President Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to Chechnya on Sunday to lay red carnations on the grave of slain Chechen leader Akhmad Kadyrov. |
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MOSCOW - St. Petersburg construction mogul and space tourist-hopeful Sergei Polonsky will not fly to the international space station in October "for medical reasons," his company, Stroimontage, and the Federal Space Agency said Friday. Neither side would say what the medical reasons were. |
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MOSCOW - The apparent contract killing of American journalist Paul Klebnikov shattered the illusions of many who shared his belief that Russia had moved beyond the days when scores were settled with a spray of bullets. |
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 This is the fourth in a series of special sections called Northern Neighbors, to be published monthly in The St. Petersburg Times. Northern Neighbors focuses on economic and cultural relations between Russia and the Scandinavian and Baltic nations. |
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Estonian scientists presented a book on Finno-Ugric minorities in Russia, whose cultures, they say, are nearing extinction if no preservation programs are developed. |
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Imagine a major business deal being signed between two people who have never met in person or touched a contract. Their joint venture is legally recognized and irrefutable in a court of law. They sign the document via a digital signature program making the inconvenience of runny ink obsolete. This scenario may sound a bit far-fetched, but it happens on a regularly in Estonia, a country quickly becoming Europe's IT capital and running for a place among the world's most digitally advanced countries. From the outside, it seems a bit surreal. A small country the size of New Hampshire and Vermont combined, Estonia only received its independence 12 years ago after the fall of the Soviet Union. |
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 Vacation spots like the south of France, the Italian countryside or the Swiss Alps may be tried and true, but it is places like Tallinn, Parnu or a nameless countryside in Estonia's south that Estonian government hopes will attract those looking for a little adventure or some peace and quiet. |
 A unique family history and a passion for music have led Mark De Mauny, the director and co-founder of the city's Earlymusic baroque festival, to St. Petersburg where he feels at home. St. Petersburg is a city that belongs not only to Russia, but also to Europe, so it is natural for a European to feel at home here, said De Mauny, who is half-English and half-French. |
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Freight shipments began bypassing St. Petersburg Sea Port, heading for the ports in the Baltic States instead, due to the on-going dockers' strike at the city port. |
 MOSCOW - China, the country's No. 1 arms customer, is close to signing a contract for anti-aircraft systems worth as much as $900 million, Vedomosti reported, citing sources familiar with the deal. State arms dealer Rosoboronexport and the Chinese Defense Ministry initialed a contract for the delivery of between four to eight batteries of S-300PMU air defense systems a few weeks ago, Vedomosti said last week. |
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Budget Estimate Raised ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) - The estimate of the city's budget surplus may be increased up to $200 million in 2005, Interfax cited Governor Valentina Matviyenko as saying Saturday. |
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MOSCOW - Listing on the Russian Trading System will become more challenging next year, with companies facing removal if they fail to comply with new regulations. "We will send out warning letters to companies suggesting they comply with new regulations," Oksana Derisheva, RTS listing department chief, said on Friday, speaking after a presentation to companies. |
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Yukos and Putin Editor, I have been following the Yukos case since the arrest last year of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. As a European, I am anxious to see Russia achieve economic growth and prosperity for all of society, all companies and the institutions with freedom of speech and application of the legal system and judiciary being rigorously maintained. |
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Aug. 23, 1939, sealed the fate of my family. On that day, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, whose secret protocols divided up Central and Eastern Europe between them. |
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A recent public opinion poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center, or VTsIOM, in connection with the anniversary of the August 1998 financial crisis - otherwise known as the "default" - shows that most citizens think some kind of financial crisis will happen again. |
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Prophet Margin Transcript, Rush Limbo Hour, NBC Radio, Jan. 17, 1943 Announcer: Good evening, America! Welcome to the Rush Limbo Hour - brought to you by Bush-Walker! OK girls, take it away! Chorus: Who put the armor on Hitler's Panzer tanks? Bush-Walker! Bush-Walker! Who helped the Nazis hide their assets in our banks? Bush-Walker! Bush-Walker! And who kept helping Hitler while he was killing Yanks? Bush-Walker! Bush-Walker! Announcer: Yes, folks, that's Bush-Walker - purveyors of the finest international investments. |
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TUESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS n TRACK AND FIELD - It is one of those inexplicable statistics that Gail Devers, a hurdler who sprints, has won two 100-meter Olympic golds, but enters her fifth Games without a medal of any color over the barriers. She will have hot competition in Tuesday's final however, with Perdita Felicien of Canada winning both outdoor and indoor world titles over the last 12 months. |
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