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Nearly All Belarussian Dairy Goods Prohibited
The Federal Consumer Protection Service doubled a list of banned Belarussian dairy products to about 1,200 products on Tuesday amid assurances from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the decision was not politically motivated. The watchdog banned the first 600-odd items on Saturday, following a weeklong exchange of unpleasantries between officials in both countries. On Tuesday, it banned another 593 items, citing the same reason: a breach of technical rules for the dairy industry that went into affect last December. The rules require producers to include additional information on their packaging. The watchdog’s head, Gennady Onishchenko, said late Tuesday that only 58 products were left untouched by the ban. Imports of “almost all these products have been banned,” Onishchenko said, Interfax reported. Onishchenko sent mixed ... |
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| President Dmitry Medvedev examining an automatic weapon at a special forces training center in Makhachkala on Tuesday as Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, second right, and Dagestani President Mukhu Aliyev, third right, watch. For story on Caucasus violence, see page 3. |
Putin Ditches Unilateral Bid for WTO Entry
MOSCOW — Russia’s 16-year quest to join the World Trade Organization took a wild turn Tuesday when Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that Russia, ... |
Oligarch, Matviyenko Rock the Boat With 'Capitalist Orgy'
The Leningrad military district prosecutor has opened an investigation into a banquet held aboard the famed cruiser Avrora during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum by Russian multi-billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Russian Pioneer magazine. “I can confirm that we opened an investigation after we saw a TV report about the banquet. Currently we are trying to ascertain whether or not the event was legal,” Igor Lebed, head prosecutor of the Leningrad military district, said on Wednesday. The prosecutors are gathering evidence from a number of officers from the Leningrad Navy Base. They are trying to establish why and by whom permission was given to organize a banquet on the territory of the military base, to which the cruiser Avrora belongs, Interfax reported. The banquet took place on board the Avrora, which is both a museum and the ... |
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Finnish Diplomat Barred for 'Kidnap'
A Finnish diplomat has been declared persona non grata for helping a Finnish man illegally spirit his son, who also has Russian citizenship, out of the country last month, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The ministry said Simo Pietilainen, a consul ... |
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Mariinsky-II Competition To Open Within 45 Days
An architectural competition to design a second stage for the world-famous Mariinsky Theater will be announced within the next 45 days, and the winner will be chosen within the coming six months, said Valery Gutovsky, head of the board for construction, ... |
 President Blames Foreign 'Freaks'
MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev blamed foreign “freaks” for violence in the North Caucasus during a visit Tuesday to Dagestan, where the region’s top police official was assassinated last week. “All kinds of freaks are coming here to do harm on our ... |
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No Weekend Holiday for Pikalyovo
 PIKALYOVO, Leningrad Oblast — Pikalyovo residents won’t celebrate the Russia Day holiday with an extended weekend with the rest of the country. They will ... |
HSBC Targets the Rich With New Retail Banks
HSBC will open five retail branches in Russia this month, including one in St. Petersburg, as part of a $200 million program to expand its local operations, bank executives announced Tuesday at a news conference in Moscow marking the first branch’s opening. HSBC will open four retail locations in Moscow in additional to a branch on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, and has plans to continue expanding “organically” afterward, HSBC Russia CEO Stuart Lawson said. The bank hasn’t had to divert any capital toward “mending fences,” Lawson said, which has allowed it to proceed ... |
Bad Bank Loans Growth Down
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Oil Export Duties Face 39-Percent Hike
MOSCOW — Russia’s oil export duty may rise as much as 39 percent from July 1 after crude prices gained, the Finance Ministry said. The levy may advance to between $210 a metric ton ($28.65 a barrel) and $212 a ton ($28.92 a barrel) from $152.80, Alexander ... |
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Year-on-Year Rise In Inflation Falls By Over 1 Percent
MOSCOW — Russia’s inflation rate in the year through June 8 fell to 7 percent from 8.1 percent a year earlier. Consumer prices climbed 0.2 percent between June 2 and June 8, after rising by the same amount the previous week, the Moscow-based Federal Statistics ... |
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 History Under Lock and Key
The only way to fight a real battle against the falsification of history — something that President Dmitry Medvedev has made a priority after creating a special commission to handle this issue — is to keep government archives as open as possible for historians. ... |
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The Wahhabi Rule Dagestan
Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgirei Magomedtagirov was killed by a sniper on Friday. He had been attending the wedding of the daughter of his friend, the chief of the local Interior Ministry’s economic crimes department. The wedding was held at The ... |
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Sub at Air Crash Scene To Hunt Black Boxes
RECIFE, Brazil — A French nuclear submarine reached the crash zone of Air France Flight 447 on Wednesday to comb the Atlantic depths for black boxes that should help determine what brought the Airbus down in the sea off Brazil with 228 people on board. The slow-moving attack sub Emeraude will be able to trawl patches of about 13 square miles (35 square kilometers) a day trying to pick up the boxes’ acoustic beacons or “pingers,” which are expected to start to fade 30 days after the May 31 crash, French armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck said Wednesday. Brazilian searchers said they have now recovered ... |
Aid Workers Among 11 Dead in Hotel Blast
 PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Investigators searched a wrecked luxury hotel in northwestern Pakistan for evidence Wednesday after a bold suicide bombing killed ... |
Israeli Woman Junks $1 Million Mattress by Mistake
JERUSALEM — An Israeli woman mistakenly threw out a mattress with $1 million inside, setting off a frantic search through tons of garbage at a number of landfill sites, Israeli media reported Wednesday. The woman told Army Radio that she bought her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise on Monday and threw out the old one, only to discover that her mother had hidden her life savings inside. She was identified only as Anat, a resident of Tel Aviv. When she went to look for the mattress it had already been taken by garbage men, she said. Subsequent searches at three different landfill sites turned up ... |
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Car Bomb Kills 35 in Shiite Area in South Iraq
BAGHDAD — A car bomb ripped through a market district Wednesday in a mainly Shiite area in southern Iraq, killing as many as 35 people and wounding dozens, officials said. The blast is the latest in a series of high-profile explosions that have raised ... |
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Labor of love
 “Anna Karenina” has long been a favorite subject for filmmakers. The latest director to bring Leo Tolstoy’s timeless novel to the big screen is the Russian ... |
Chernov’s
choice
With the St. Petersburg Economic Forum having been and gone, Duran Duran, which played an outdoor concert on Palace Square last week, now seems to be a better choice as a “gift from the Forum to guests and residents of St. Petersburg],” as the event’s official web site put it. Last year’s “gift,” Roger Waters, who spent much of his career as a member of Pink Floyd criticizing capitalism, tried hard to persuade the media that he had no idea what his concert was in aid of — after performing on Palace Square to an audience that included tycoons such as Roman Abramovich (who traveled to the city on his state-of-the-art private yacht) occupying VIP seats. However, the promoter was quick to comment that, of course, Waters was informed about the details ... |
Tajikistan’s disco dancer
KOLOMNA — Baimurat Allaberiyev, a diminutive native of Tajikistan who has herded sheep, picked cotton and toiled in construction, hardly looks like Russia’s latest musical sensation. But Allaberiyev’s remarkable talent sets him apart from the millions of Central Asians who come to Russia to escape crushing poverty at home. A musical prodigy, he can perform Bollywood show-stoppers as a one-man band, equipped with nothing but an uncanny falsetto and a metal bucket. That — and the miraculous star-making powers of the Internet — have turned this 37-year-old into a cult celebrity here. Allaberiyev won fame after shaky videos shot with mobile phones surfaced on the Internet that showed him performing songs like “Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja” from the 1983 Bollywood classic “Disco Dancer”. Set ... |
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Tea for two
Nestled on the second floor of the iconic building opposite Kazan Cathedral that formerly housed the Singer company and is now home to the popular bookshop Dom Knigi, this hidden gem is a refreshing change from the monotonous franchises found elsewhere ... |
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Magic Have 'Skip' in Step in Finals Victory
 ORLANDO, Florida — Orlando Magic skipped past their point guard controversy in style Tuesday night. Rafer Alston helped the Magic get back into the NBA ... |
Kaka Aims For New Era With Real Madrid
ROME — Brazil’s 2007 world footballer of the year Kaka completed his transfer from Serie A side AC Milan to Real Madrid late on Monday, both clubs announced. The 27-year-old signed a six year contract with the Spanish giants for a reported fee of 65 million euros which both clubs refused to confirm. If it is 65 million euros it would be the second biggest ever transfer - after that of French great Zinedine Zidane, who cost Real Madrid 75million euros in 2001. “I wanted to stay (at Milan) but the world crisis affected my decision. I knew I’d only leave Milan to play for Real,” the player said at a press conference in the Brazilian city of Recife. “I will be part of a ... |
Chelsea Make Offer for Atletico Ace Aguero
LONDON — Chelsea have made an offer of 50 million euros for Atletico Madrid’s highly-rated Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero, according to English media reports on Wednesday. The 21-year-old, who scored 17 goals last season to help Atletico claim a place in the Champions League, is one of the hottest properties in European football. He said earlier this month that he wanted to stay in the Spanish capital but urged Atletico’s owners to invest in player reinforcement to ensure the club was capable of making an impact among Europe’s elite, suggesting he could be attracted by a switch to a club challenging for major honours every season. The size of Chelsea’s reported offer ... |
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Hayes Hopes For Title Fight in July With Klitschko
LONDON — David Haye hopes his world heavyweight title fight against Wladimir Klitschko can be rescheduled for July. The British fighter pulled out of the scheduled June 20 bout against the IBF and WBO champion on Wednesday after injuring his back in training. The ... |
