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 Senior Russian officials on Wednesday downplayed the capture and release of an alleged U.S. spy, suggesting that while the incident won't help already battered relations, it also won't derail cooperation on international issues, including a newly launched effort to end Syria's civil war. |
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A Moscow court on Thursday delivered a rare victory to a suspect in the politically charged "Bolotnaya case," overturning a decision to extend opposition activist Vladimir Akimenkov's arrest on charges that he participated in violence at an anti-government rally in Moscow last spring. |
All photos from issue.
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 A discharged police officer, currently on criminal probation for beating a protester during a demonstration, found himself behind bars for a shooting in a local cafe last week. On Sunday, a court ruled he would be held in pre-trial custody for 30 days.
According to the police, Vadim Boiko, 37, was detained on Saturday morning at the Cheburek cafe on Ulitsa Chaikovskogo in central St. Petersburg after discharging a shotgun into the ceiling. The cafe, located directly opposite the Northwest Office of the Interior Ministry, is believed to be frequented by police officers.
The police said a man, later identified as Boiko, arrived at the cafe, where he had been “relaxing” the night before, after discovering he was missing his watch at around 9 a.m. Saturday. He was intoxicated, according to the police.
“Having shot once into the air, the man aimed his weapon at cafe staff and demanded the return of his watch,” the police said in a statement, adding that a police squad arrived to disarm and detain the offender minutes after one of the employees activated a silent alarm. |
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CIRCUS CIRCUS
Nadezhda Belyaeva / SPT
Cirque du Soleil arrived in St. Petersburg last week with a promenade through the center of the city, keeping alive a 19th-century tradition of circus performers parading through
every new town to entice locals to their show. The troupe is in the city through Saturday with performances of ‘Alegria,’ the Canadian super-circus’ most popular show. |
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ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The price for participation in the St. Petersburg Economic Forum has increased by more than 66 percent, Vedomosti reported Monday, citing the forum’s organizers.
A premium package for a participant of the forum, which currently costs 177,000 rubles ($5,710), will rise to 295,000 rubles starting from Wednesday, the organizers said.
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Finnish Novosti
ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — On Monday Finnish public broadcaster, Yle, launched Novosti — its first Russian language TV news program.
Airing seven days a week on its TV1 channel, Novosti aims to provide up-to-date coverage on domestic events for Finland’s 50,000 resident Russian speakers and visitors. |
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This weekend, St. Petersburg will see two international events take place that happen only once a year: Restaurant Day, when anyone can don a toque and become a chef, will take place on May 18, right before the Night of Museums, which begins at 6 p. |
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A St. Petersburg businessman has invested money into funding a competition to find the best monument commemorating bribes. Boris Lipner, owner of the local chain of orthopedic stores Kladovaya Zdorovya, is the driving force and the wallet behind the nationwide sculpture contest to create a monument titled “Greyhound Puppy. |
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ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — St. Petersburg police detained a local 20-year-old police cadet on Sunday after he admitted to stabbing to death the family of a drug enforcement officer on Saturday night. |
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ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — An author of Russia’s 1993 Constitution, Sergei Alexeyev, died after suffering a heart attack in St. Petersburg on Sunday. He was 88.
Alexeyev began work on the Constitution in late 1991 as a member of the working group of the Russian Movement for Democratic Reform. The two other ideologists were Anatoly Sobchak — a mentor of President Vladimir Putin — and Sergei Shakhrai. |
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 MOSCOW — Two members of a militant nationalist group that has been implicated in a number of high-profile killings, including those of a prominent judge and an opposition journalist, have been detained in Serbia and Ukraine, the Investigative Committee said Monday. |
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MOSCOW — On Tuesday, the Moskovsky Komsomolets published an open letter written by a group of Americans to the Russian children they met but were hastily barred from adopting. |
 MOSCOW — On the face of it, there are few similarities between the city of Blagoveshchensk, located in the Far East, and the country’s natural gas capital of Novy Urengoi, 3,000 kilometers away in the tundra just below the Arctic Circle.
But both cities are part of official border zone territory: areas of land abutting Russia’s borders that are closed to visitors and under the direct control of the Federal Security Service, or FSB. |
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MOSCOW — The brutal killing of a gay man in the southern city of Volgograd has sparked outrage among Russia’s LGBT community, with activists calling authorities “accomplices” in the killing for stigmatizing sexual minorities. |
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 MOSCOW — The government is cutting red tape in the construction sector in an effort to attract foreign investors to domestic road construction projects, Vedomosti reported on Monday.
Winners of tenders for road construction will be spared the tasks of preparing future construction sites and solving numerous legal, property and infrastructure issues related to construction areas, according to a decree published on the official government site. |
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MOSCOW — State Duma Deputy, Mikhail Degtyaryov, has proposed to take U.S. dollars out of circulation in Russia with the aim to raise the prestige of the ruble and reduce Russia’s dependence on the dollar, Izvestia reported. |
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MOSCOW — An initiative by business ombudsman Boris Titov to free more than 100,000 entrepreneurs serving prison sentences for white-collar crimes will be submitted to the State Duma next week, Kommersant reported last Wednesday.
Titov warned that many people were likely to oppose the idea, but he acknowledged that without such a measure it would be difficult to overcome the remnants of the “turbulent 1990s. |
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MOSCOW — Restaurant chain Coffee House has lost an appeal against a Federal Anti-Monopoly Service ruling that found it guilty of using noncompetitive business practices. |
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MOSCOW — Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree requiring all major state-funded investment projects to undergo a compulsory technological and financial audit by a panel of independent experts and community representatives.
The new audit mechanism will be introduced in two stages. |
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MOSCOW — Rusnano, the state technology giant, will be fully privatized in seven years and its revenue will increase 10-fold, according to a draft plan submitted on Tuesday to the Cabinet by its head, Anatoly Chubais. |
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 Analysts have been releasing various scenarios of how Russia might develop over the next ten years. Although each scenario is different, they all have features in common. Below is a list of the commonalities that form a picture of what awaits Russia over the next decade. |
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World War II is only a vague recollection in the rest of the world. Three years ago, my wife’s cousin, a heroic U.S. fighter pilot and former prisoner of war, was invited to a ceremony in Great Britain marking the 65th anniversary of victory. |
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 Michael Rother, the influential German musician best known for his work with Krautrock bands NEU! and Harmonia in the 1970s, will perform at the 17th Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival being held this week. Known as SKIF, the annual local festival of avant-garde and leftfield music is held in memory of the late St. |
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Vladislav Surkov, the once omnipotent “gray cardinal” of the Kremlin believed to be responsible for propaganda and dealing with dissent, was dismissed last week. |
 With the opening of the new Mariinsky stage still fresh in people’s minds, all eyes remain trained on what is quickly becoming St. Petersburg’s own arts district. While not as spectacular a launch, this week sees the start of the summer arts program on New Holland Island on May 18.
Within a 20-minute walk of the Hermitage and just a few minutes stroll from the Mariinsky, the 8-hectare island is in the heart of the city, bordered by two canals and a river. |
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 Following safety violations and noise complaints from neighbors, local theater ON.TEATR has been ordered to stop all activities for 90 days, after a court hearing held on Apr. |
 Mama Luba is not your typical mama. While the name may conjure up images of a plump Italian grandmother embracing you with kisses before serving you plates of spaghetti and meatballs at a table decorated with a red and white checkered tablecloth, we were pleasantly surprised to find she was anything but. |
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