IN BRIEF

Published: November 14, 2012 (Issue # 1735)

Less Crime in City

 ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg has become one of the safest cities in Russia, St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko claimed last week.

The crime rate has seen a significant decrease, Poltavchenko said when congratulating local police on Nov. 10, the date designated the official professional holiday of the police in Russia.

The number of crimes decreased by 11 percent during the first nine months of this year, Poltavchenko said.

There are currently six Cossack brigades and 34 voluntary people’s guards helping the city police in St. Petersburg. They have uncovered 14,000 administrative violations and helped to detain 2,500 criminals, Poltavchenko said.

Teen Cruise Death

 ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A teenage Russian passenger aboard the Princess Anastasia ferry died in a Finnish hospital after being urgently airlifted from the ferry by medical helicopter. The girl was evacuated after she was diagnosed with a serious heart problem, the Rosbalt news agency reported.

The ferry was on its way back from Stockholm to St. Petersburg via Tallinn after visiting the Swedish capital and Helsinki when the 13-year-old girl began to feel unwell. The crew called a helicopter, and the girl was taken to a hospital specializing in heart problems in the Finnish city of Turku, where she later died. The girl’s heart had stopped, Rosbalt reported.

The preliminary cause of death was determined to be thrombosis, web portal Fontanka.ru reported, citing a source from St. Peter Line, the company that operates the ferry service.

The girl was traveling with her mother and father. According to preliminary information she was suffering from an illness affecting the immune system, Fontanka.ru reported.

Palace Bridge Closure

 ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Palace Bridge over the River Neva will be closed to traffic at night from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Nov. 15.

Traffic on the bridge was limited to four lanes beginning Oct. 21 due to repair work, Interfax reported.

According to the city authorities, the bridge is safe for traffic but the mechanism that raises the bridge up to allow large ships to pass underneath it requires repair work. The bridge’s opening mechanism was constructed in 1916 and cracks in it may appear at any moment, they say.

The repair work is being carried out by Pilon. The cost of the work is estimated at 2.7 billion rubles ($85 million). Traffic will be limited on the bridge until Dec. 20, 2013.

Smart Hermitage

 ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — Boris Piotrovsky, son of the State Hermitage Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky, is promoting a project called Smart Museum that will allow visitors to the museum to access information about any exhibit there with the help of QR-code technology in Android and iOS applications, Delovoi Peterburg newspaper reported.

The Smart Museum system is already operating in 12 of the city’s museums, including the Sheremetyev Palace, the Rimsky-Korsakov apartment museum and the Fyodor Chaliapin apartment museum.

Anti-Drug Calls

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The second All-Russia “Report Where They Trade In Death” anti-drug campaign will be held in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast from Nov. 12 through Nov. 23.

Residents of the two regions will be able to call the drug control departments of districts in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast and report any information they have about drug dealing to authorities, the web portal Fontanka.ru reported.

People can leave information by calling a 24-hour hotline on 004 or 495 5264.