IN BRIEF

Published: February 13, 2013 (Issue # 1746)

Cheaper Roaming

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The Ministry of Mass Communications hopes that legislative amendments that would end roaming charges inside Russia for callers on the same cell network will be passed in 2013, the ministry’s head Nikolai Nikiforov told Interfax on Monday.

Currently, Russians are charged roaming fees when traveling outside the region of the country in which their account is registered.

“The idea is to be able to use a cell phone when arriving from another town and be charged local tariffs,” Nikiforov said. “This is so that people will not have to line their pockets with SIM cards from different cities and replace them in their phones. Legislation to address this is already under discussion, and the technical details are being worked out.”

The ministry has suggested that when visiting a different region, cell phone users should be able to speak with other people in that region registered with the same network operator without paying extra roaming charges. Calls outside that region, for example, to the caller’s home region, will still be charged as long-distance calls. If person has traveled to another region and receives a call from their home region or any other region, it will be the caller who pays the additional charges rather than the person receiving the call.

The changes to current legislation envisage callers being switched automatically to their operator’s most popular tariffs in the region to which they have traveled. The ministry made no mention of moving away from roaming charges on calls made to numbers on other networks.

Man Falls From Roof

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A 24-year-old Tajik man was seriously injured when he fell from the roof of the St. Petersburg Grand Choral Synagogue on Sunday. The unidentified man was clearing snow from the roof when he fell, Interfax reported.

The man, who fell from a height of 20 meters, was hospitalized at the St. Petersburg Military Medical Academy.

City investigators are currently looking into the incident.

Duato Heads to Berlin

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The artistic director of the city’s Mikhailovsky Ballet Theater, Nacho Duato, will head the Staatsballett Berlin in 2014, Interfax reported.

Duato will also continue to work simultaneously as the resident choreographer at the Mikhailovsky, according to the theater’s press service. Spanish choreographer Duato has been the artistic director of the Mikhailovsky Theater’s ballet troupe since January 2011.

Visa-Free Finland

ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — A number of towns in the southeast of Finland have proposed the introduction of a 36-hour visa-free regime for tourists from Russia arriving in the country by train, Interfax reported.

The idea attracted particularly strong support from the authorities of the Finnish city of Lappeenranta, which is located near the Russian border.

The latest move is part of a campaign by Finnish authorities to encourage Russians to travel to their cities.