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Election Numbers Questioned
MOSCOW — There are numerous curiosities to be found in the official returns of the March 2 presidential election. At a polling station in the Dagestani town of Kizilyurt, for example, more than 700 voters cast their ballots, but not a single one voted for President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, who captured more than 90 percent of the vote in the republic and more than 70 percent nationwide. While one could imagine a neighborhood where antipathy toward Medvedev runs aberrantly deep, one blogger has crunched official election results and found strikingly anomalous voter behavior across the country. Analyzing official returns on the Central Elections Commitee web site, blogger Sergei Shpilkin has concluded that a disproportionate number of polling stations nationwide reported round numbers — that is, numbers ending in ... |
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| Participants in the “Under the Star of the Virgin Mary” religious procession setting off on Sunday. Believers are walking from St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Barnaul, Yakutsk, Rostov-na-Donu, Arkhangelsk, Jerusalem and Holy Mount Athos in Greece to meet in Moscow. |
United Russia Party Seeks Putin as Chairman
MOSCOW — Russia’s biggest party created a new role of chairman on Monday and said it would ask President Vladimir Putin to take the job, a possible final ... |
President Calls for Boost to Russia’s Space Program
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin ordered his government Friday to speed up construction of a new cosmodrome and development of a booster rocket in a bid to revive the nation’s space glory. Russia’s space agency chief, meanwhile, said the country may stop selling seats on its spacecraft to “tourists” starting in 2010 because of the planned expansion of the international space station’s crew from the current three to six or even nine in 2010. The development came a day before the 47th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s becoming the first man in space. The Soviets also launched the first satellite — Sputnik — and the first woman in space, and carried out the first spacewalk. But Russia’s space industries fell on hard times after the 1991 Soviet collapse when once-generous state funding dried up. They have survived ... |
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Top Commander Threatens to Arm Borders
MOSCOW — Russia will take military and other steps along its borders if ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia join NATO, news agencies quoted the armed forces’ chief of staff as saying on Friday. “Russia will take steps aimed at ensuring its interests along its ... |
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Ministry Protests Over Bout
MOSCOW — The Foreign Ministry said Friday that it had summoned Thailand’s ambassador to discuss what it called violations of the rights of Viktor Bout, an alleged Russian arms dealer in prison in Thailand. “The ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand ... ... |
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In Absentia Case Brought Against Lawyer Kuznetsov
MOSCOW — Lawyer Boris Kuznetsov, who was granted political asylum in the United States earlier this year, has been formally charged in absentia with divulging state secrets, his lawyer said Friday. Kuznetsov, 64, fled the country in July, shortly after authorities began investigating him for purportedly disclosing state secrets by filing a complaint to the Constitutional Court that the Federal Security Service had illegally wiretapped the telephone of his client, former Senator Levon Chakhmakhchyan. The Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee formally charged Kuznetsov on Thursday, said Viktor Parshutkin, one of Kuznetsov’s lawyers. It was unclear whether Russia would seek Kuznetsov’s extradition, as it has with other high-profile suspects living abroad, such as businessman Boris Berezovsky and Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev, both of whom have been granted political asylum in Britain. A spokeswoman for the Moscow ... |
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| Children learning to paint at the Sergei Andriyaka Watercolor School at the Manezh Exhibition Center. As well as masterclasses, the artist is holding an exhibition. |
Supreme Court Judge Shot Dead in Ingushetia
MOSCOW — Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a senior judge in Ingushetia, a restive province in the North Caucasus. Khasan Yandiyev, deputy chairman of ... |
OMON Turn Out for Non-Event
A non-political rally was stopped from taking place by the city administration on Friday, and a large contingent of police was sent to the rally’s planned location in the center — only to find that the demonstrators did not show up. The rally’s organizers claim the administration violated the law by banning the rally and are considering suing it. Originally, between 200 and 300 people were expected to take part. Called the March Against Social Indifference, the rally’s original aim was to call on people to care more about each other and was caused by several recent accidents in which people died in public places while passersby did nothing to help them. In their blogs on Livejournal.com, the organizers described two such incidents. High school director Nikolai Belousov died of a cardiac arrest after he had spent a night lying in the street before anybody called an ambulance, the organizers said, while student Viktoria ... |
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In Brief
Women’s 10k in St. Petersburg ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — As many as 12,000 local women have signed up to participate in a 10-kilometer run to be held ... |
Radical Solutions Sought to Combat Child Sex Abuse
Russia’s Police Ministry has said that the number of child sex crimes it has recorded in recent years has risen by more than 25 times as state officials ... |
Author Says Play Censored
MOSCOW — A British-based playwright has accused Russian authorities of Soviet-style censorship after her play, about a real-life hostage siege in Moscow, ... |
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Lenta Court Ruling Clarifies Shareholders’ Rights
 A British Virgin Islands court has ruled that that Sergei Yushchenko was legitimately dismissed and Vladimir Senkin legitimately appointed general manager ... |
Pankin Announces Plan for Early Payback of $3Bln to World Bank
NEW YORK — Russia, the world’s biggest energy exporter, plans to repay early about $3 billion owed the World Bank as oil and gas revenue help ease the country’s debt burden, Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin said. “There are plans over the early repayment and there are mutual agreements on that,” Pankin said at a press briefing in Washington at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. “We expect to repay about $3 billion in June and may repay more later in the year.” Russia is using windfall revenue from energy exports to lessen a debt ... |
PWC Loses Appeal Against Tax Claim
MOSCOW — The Moscow District Arbitration Court rejected a second appeal by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s Russian unit against a 380 million rubles ($16 million) back-tax claim, a spokeswoman for the auditor said. Investigators say the auditor illegally reduced the amount of tax liability in 2002 by falsely declaring the hiring of non-Russians. The amount includes $11 million in taxes that PWC allegedly failed to pay and $5.1 million in penalties and fines, according to the spokeswoman, who said PWC had paid all the required taxes. The Higher Arbitration Court in Moscow ordered ... |
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In Brief
Land for Sale at Auction ST. PETERSBURG (SPT) — The St. Petersburg Property Fund plans to auction off a land plot on Sytninskaya Ulitsa in the Petrogradsky district in October or November this year, Interfax reported Friday. The land plot, which has a total area of 5,900 square meters, will be used for the construction of a 600-room hotel. The plot already contains premises covering an area of 4,700 meters and borders an empty residential building and state lyceum, which are due to be demolished in the near future. Monuments Transferred ST. ... |
X5 Sales Up 61 Percent
MOSCOW — X5 Retail Group, the country’s largest supermarket chain, rose the most in almost six months in London trading after reporting a 61 percent sales increase and saying Friday that it would buy the Karusel chain for less than analysts expected. X5 gained $1.39, or 4.9 percent, to $30.03, the steepest percentage climb since Oct. 15. That increased the market value of the retailer to $6.5 billion. First-quarter sales advanced to $1.78 billion from $1.1 billion a year earlier after X5 added stores and Russians spent more on food, the company said ... |
Duma Ratifies Anti-Smoking Treaty
 MOSCOW — State Duma deputies floated radical plans on Friday to cut tobacco use after ratifying a United Nations anti-smoking convention. Potential measures ... |
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Space Tourism Likely to Decline As Crew Increases
MOSCOW — Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said Friday that the country might stop selling seats on its spacecraft to “tourists” starting in ... |
Serbia, Inter RAO Set to Sign Deal
MOSCOW — Inter RAO, Unified Energy System’s import and export arm, said Friday that it would sign a protocol Monday with Serbian state-controlled electricity ... |
Ukraine Poultry Producer Plans IPO
KIEV — Mironovskiy Hleboproduct SA, Ukraine’s biggest poultry producer, plans to hold an initial public offering in London to fund its expansion. The company ... |
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Rosneft, LUKoil In Lead As RTS Hits 2,100 Mark
MOSCOW — The RTS, the country’s benchmark stock index, breached the 2,100 barrier for the first time this year, as oil and metal stocks pulled away from the field. “It does look much better than last month,” said James Fenkner, managing director at Red Star Asset Management. Oil stocks, led by Rosneft and LUKoil, had some of the biggest trading volumes, after Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said the government might reach an agreement in two to three months on cutting oil taxes to shore up flagging production. Metal stocks were buoyed by price gains across the board, while Norilsk Nickel basked in the news that its deal with United Company RusAl — a prelude to a full merger, which analysts have signaled will dilute minority shareholders’ stakes — may be on shaky ... |
Heineken Sees Weaker Growth
 MOSCOW — Heineken, the largest Dutch brewer, said Friday that growth in its Russian beer sales would weaken this year as the market’s expansion slows. ... |
Retailers Choose Own Stores Over Acquisitions
MOSCOW — Russian retailers prefer to expand by opening their own stores, rather than acquiring competitors, because the scarcity of potential targets has made takeovers too expensive, PricewaterhouseCoopers said Friday. Companies that opt to expand without purchases made up 56 percent of respondents polled by the accounting firm. The study was based on 23 online interviews with Russian retail companies, New York-based PwC said in an e-mailed statement. X5 Retail Group, the country’s largest supermarket company, and main competitor Magnit are among retailers that are adding stores to gain market share. The country’s 10 main retailers control about 5 percent of the market, compared with 85 percent for the four British leaders, the survey shows. “The growing purchasing power of Russian ... |
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Banker Says Russian Key to Success
MOSCOW — The Russian language could help Moscow compete with financial hubs to lure companies from around the former Soviet Union to list on its bourses, ... |
Energy Producers Sign Deal
KIEV — Naftogaz Ukrainy, Ukraine’s state-run energy company, said Friday that it signed a contract with Swiss-registered RosUkrEnergo on importing natural ... |
Sotheby’s Expects Sale Of Russian Art to Be Success
NEW YORK — A Faberge icon in a silver frame studded with rubies, sapphires and emeralds and a gigantic tsarist-era porcelain centerpiece are among the ... |
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Governor Protests Baikal Plant
 MOSCOW — Irkutsk Governor Alexander Tishanin on Friday demanded the relocation of a pulp plant that is polluting Lake Baikal, which holds about one-fifth ... |
Banks to Bid for Funds
NEW YORK — The Russian government will allow banks to bid for as much as 600 billion rubles ($25.6 billion) in budget funds to shore up liquidity, said Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin. “Theoretically, the volume that may be placed may be about 600 billion rubles,” Pankin said at a press briefing in Washington D.C. after the semi-annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The auctions to allow banks to temporarily hold spare budget funds will probably start this month, he said. The government initially expected to let the banks bid for between ... |
RusAl Workers Begin Hunger Strike
MOSCOW — Seventy-five workers at United Company RusAl’s North Ural Bauxite Mine in the Sverdlovsk region began a hunger strike Sunday, a union leader said. Alexander Anisimov, deputy head of the local Independent Miners’ Union, said by telephone late Sunday that the miners were staying in the administrative building of the Little Red Riding Hood mine, which is part of the larger RusAl complex. “We decided to take the step when RusAl said it was ready to increase our salaries 5 percent, or about 800 rubles [$34],” Anisimov said. The miners had previously asked for ... |
 Energy Behemoth Prepares to Auction Off OGK-1
KASHIRA, Moscow Region — The jewel in the crown of the Unified Energy System network, OGK-1, will be auctioned off Thursday as part of the culmination of a decade-long sector reform that will see the electricity monopoly officially cease to exist on July ... |
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It’s Not All About High Oil Prices
 The key economic priority in Russia is to maintain the high economic growth rates that it has achieved over the past eight years, and recent growth performance ... |
Those Ukrainian, Iranian NATO Blues
On the surface, it seems Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin each got what they wanted most at the NATO and Sochi summits. Bush is moving forward with the placement of anti-Iranian missiles in Poland, and Putin kept Ukraine out of NATO, at least for the time being. It is certainly true that Iran may in time pose some danger to Israel, Europe and the United States. And perhaps it was an intentional provocation that Iran’s announcement about 6,000 new uranium-enriching centrifuges coincided with the Bucharest and Sochi summits. But it remains highly debatable whether a missile-defense system is the best response to that potential threat, and the reason for this is simple — most experts doubt it will work. What is beyond doubt, however, is that the Poles are hitting up Washington ... |
Silencing Protest With
Balloons and Concerts
From my balcony in the center of Yerevan, the Armenian capital, I heard a sudden volley of bangs, as flashes of light illuminated the evening sky. A few weeks earlier, I’d been standing in the same place as the crackle of tracer bullet fire resounded in the night. Some people called this “Bloody Saturday,” as nine people were killed in pitched battles as riot police put down protests against Serzh Sargsyan’s disputed presidential election victory. But this time, the explosions were celebratory — a display of fireworks ending the day last week when Sargsyan was sworn in to office. This time, nobody died. From morning, the city had been under lockdown. Baton-swinging cops formed a huge cordon around Yerevan’s Opera House, where the inauguration ceremony was to take place. After last ... |
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You Aren’t Where You Went
If theIdes of March spelled trouble for Julius Caesar, mid-April makes millions of Americans wary — and without knives or men in togas. The gainfully employed must lock ‘n’ load their No. 2 pencils for the annual showdown with the Internal Revenue Service ... |
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Zimbabwe Election Crisis Enters Week 3
 HARARE, Zimbabwe — Authorities said Sunday they would recount the votes from nearly two dozen parliamentary races as Zimbabwe’s ruling party sought to ... |
Porn Star Hopes to Heat Up Italian Politics After Election
ROME — She had no desire to be just another smiling face in Italian politics. So when porn star Milly D’Abbraccio designed her campaign posters, it was obvious she was going to show off her bottom. Targeting her male fan base, the veteran of Italy’s adult entertainment industry has plastered images of her derriere all around the Eternal City in a bid to win a seat in Rome’s city hall. If elected, D’Abbraccio wants to create a red light area with strip clubs, erotic discos and sex shops called “Love City” just kilometers away from the Vatican. “It would be something cute, clean — nothing to ... |
World Bank Seeks Deal On Rising Food Prices
WASHINGTON — The World Bank plans to invest up to $3 billion over the next two to three years in stock and bond indices, to stabilize its income and safeguard against rising inflation and falling interest rates, bank officials said on Sunday. Some World Bank member countries said it meant a move into riskier assets because, unlike the safer fixed income securities the bank normally invests in, there is no guarantee that stocks or bonds will appreciate. Others said that by diversifying the income portfolio of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or IBRD, which lends to ... |
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Power Deal Reached In Nairobi
NAIROBI, Kenya — President Mwai Kibaki named opposition leader Raila Odinga as prime minister Sunday, implementing a long-awaited power-sharing deal aimed ... |
President Bush Lays Out Red Carpet for Pontiff
WASHINGTON — The leader of the world’s Roman Catholics has been to the White House only once in history. That changes this week, and President Bush is ... |
Carter Courts Controversy In Israel by Seeking Hamas Ties
JERUSALEM — Israel’s secret service has declined to assist U.S. agents guarding former U.S. President Jimmy Carter during a visit in which Israeli leaders ... |
 Obama Condemned as ‘Elitist’
STEELTON, Pennsylvania — Accused of being elitist, a defiant Senator Barack Obama lashed out at rival Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying “Shame on her” and mocking her vocal support for gun rights as their political tempest threatened to consume the ... |
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Lonely Planet Defends Claims That Travel Guide Authors Make It All Up
SYDNEY, Australia — Lonely Planet said Monday it stands by the accuracy of its travel guides following news reports that one of its authors claimed he plagiarized and invented sections of the books. Australia’s Herald Sun and Sunday Telegraph newspapers ... |
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 Oil Enriching Nenets, Bankrupting Traditions
NARYAN-MAR, Nenets Autonomous District — When an airplane carrying LUKoil workers crashed in the far north of this Arctic region three years ago, killing 29 of 52 people on board, many blamed the weather. When, one year later, in March 2006, a helicopter ... |
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Russia Advances After Injury Ends QFs
 The Czech Republic conceded its Davis Cup quarterfinal to Russia on Sunday after Tomas Berdych injured his ankle against Nikolai Davydenko. World No. 9 ... |
Immelman Wins Major
AUGUSTA, Georgia — Trevor Immelman survived a double-bogey at the 16th hole to become the first South African to win the U.S. Masters in 30 years with a three-shot victory on Sunday. Maintaining his composure in swirling winds at Augusta National, the dapper 28-year-old got up and down from a greenside bunker to par 17 before parring the last to seal his first major title. Two ahead overnight, Immelman followed in the footsteps of his childhood hero Gary Player to secure the prized green jacket with a three-over-par 75, matching the highest closing score by a Masters winner set by Arnold Palmer in 1962. He also became the fifth wire-to-wire champion at Augusta, and the first since American Raymond Floyd in 1976, with an eight-under total of 280. World number one Tiger Woods, overwhelming ... |
United States Rejects Possible Boycott of Olympics
WASHINGTON — A boycott of Olympic ceremonies by world leaders over China‘s crackdown in Tibet would be an evasion of responsibility and less effective than quiet diplomacy, the U.S. national security adviser said on Sunday. The remarks by White House adviser Stephen Hadley come as a challenge to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has said she will not attend the opening ceremony of this year’s Beijing Olympics, and to those calling for U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders to do the same. “I think unfortunately a lot of countries say ‘well, if we say we are not going to the opening ceremonies, we’ve checked the box on Tibet’ — that’s a cop out,” Hadley said on “Fox News Sunday.” “If other countries are concerned about Tibet they ought to do what we are doing, through quiet ... |
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Tiger Loses Out on Slam
AUGUSTA, Georgia — The only way Tiger Woods gets a Grand Slam this year is by stopping off at Denny’s. For the third year in a row, he knew how all those guys who chased him down the stretch of all those other majors felt: desperate leaving the first tee, frustrated when none of the gambles paid off, and, finally, beaten. Woods walked off Augusta National on Sunday after an even-par 72 and went directly into the clubhouse, up a winding staircase and into the refuge of the champions’ locker room. A moment later, a Masters official scurried out carrying four freshly pressed green jackets on hangers, one of which was going to be draped across the shoulders of Trevor Immelman. Woods stayed there until after the South African’s par putt fell on No. 18, officially ending his own quest to ... |
Superfast Swimming Suit in Spotlight
 MANCHESTER, England — Speedo’s record-breaking suit passed another test at a meeting Saturday between the manufacturer and swimming’s world governing body. “FINA ... |
Man U Edges Closer to Title Win
LONDON — Manchester United surged six points clear at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 comeback victory over Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday that also snuffed out the London club’s slim title hopes. Emmanuel Adebayor put Arsenal ahead early in the second half but a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty levelled and Owen Hargreaves won it with a 72nd-minute free kick. The result leaves United on 80 points, six clear of Chelsea, who host Wigan Athletic on Monday, with Arsenal on 71. United, who have a far superior goal difference, still have to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Earlier on Sunday, Liverpool tightened their grip on fourth place when superbly-taken goals from Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and a late Andriy Voronin effort gave them a 3-1 Anfield win over Blackburn Rovers. ... |
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Red Sox Fan Tries to Jinx Stadium
NEW YORK — A construction worker’s bid to curse the New York Yankees by planting a Boston Red Sox jersey in their new stadium was foiled when the home team removed the offending shirt from its burial spot. After locating the shirt in a service corridor ... |
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Sports Watch
Rubin Stays on Top BELGRADE (Reuters) — Surprise leaders Rubin Kazan stretched their perfect start to five matches after a brace by Turkey striker Gokdeniz Karadeniz helped them to a 4-0 away rout of Khimkhi. Dynamo Moscow stayed second, two points ... |
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 Former Soviet Dissident Bridges Past and Present
Cambridge, U.K.,-based Vladimir Bukovsky is a living link between today’s Russian opposition and the Soviet dissidents of the past. Bukovsky, who spent 12 years in a Soviet prison as a political prisoner before he was released and exiled to the West ... |
