The Moscow Times

Market Matters: Struggling Stocks Spur New Record Oil Prices
Oil hit another record of just under $143 as global stocks tumbled last week, with the Dow briefly dipping into bear market territory as investors sought safety in gold, government debt and the Swiss franc.

News

Tom Lantos Dies at 80 of Cancer
The Associated Press Representative Tom Lantos, who as a teenager twice escaped from a Nazi-run forced labor camp in Hungary and became the only Holocaust survivor to win a seat in the U.S. Congress, has died. He was 80.

Marshals Say Group Beat Them
By David Nowak / Staff Writer The Federal Court Marshals Service has accused a support group formed by relatives of those killed in the 2004 Beslan school siege of assaulting seven of its officers and one judge, one of the group's leaders said Monday.

CIS Foundation Evicting City's Sculptors
By Kevin O'Flynn / Staff Writer For more than 30 years, the historic mansion on Spasonalivkovsky Pereulok in central Moscow has been home to the Moscow Sculptors' Association.

Gas Talks Come Down to The Wire
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer Emergency talks between Gazprom and Ukraine failed to resolve a simmering debt dispute Monday as the possibility of a mid-winter shut-off of gas supplies to the country inched closer.

Pushing 2 Churches Closer to Each Other
By Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writer Perhaps the most historic event to hit the Orthodox world during President Vladimir Putin's time in office took place in May, when the leaders of two Russian churches agreed to end an 80-year rift.

Bumpy Ride in Drive to Reshape Society
By Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writer With a friend in the Kremlin, the Russian Orthodox Church hoped to reshape society.

Ex-Transportation Minister Arrested
The Associated Press Ukrainian authorities have arrested a former transportation minister on suspicion of embezzling government money on a weekend trip to Paris, officials said Monday.

Baku Will Splash Out Oil Wealth on a Center
By Lada Yevgrashina / Reuters Azerbaijan's ruling elite has grown rich from oil, and now it is to acquire the ultimate status symbol: a monument to the president's father designed by one of the world's most sought-after architects.

Khodorkovsky Ends Hunger Strike
The Associated Press Jailed former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky said Monday he had ended the hunger strike that he had began 14 days ago to protest the authorities' treatment of Vasily Aleksanyan, the former Yukos executive suffering from AIDS-related cancer and tuberculosis.

Putin Talks Peace With Abdullah II
The Associated Press Jordan's King Abdullah II met with President Vladimir Putin Monday for talks on the situation in the Middle East as well as trade and military cooperation.

European University in St. Pete Shut Down
By Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writer City authorities cite fire violations, but opposition activists say the temporary closure is political.

Medvedev Alone Spared Critical Ads
By Natalya Krainova / Staff Writer Ads at polling stations will inform voters that presidential candidates Gennady Zyuganov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Andrei Bogdanov concealed their true incomes while applying to run, the Central Elections Commission said Monday.

Police Find Arsonist Suspected of Torching Ancient Landmark
The Associated Press Police arrested a suspect Monday in a fire that destroyed a 610-year-old wooden structure atop a gate considered South Korea's top national treasure, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

East Timor Leader Hurt in Shooting
The Associated Press Rebel soldiers shot and critically wounded East Timor's president and opened fire on the prime minister Monday in a failed coup attempt in the recently independent nation. A top rebel leader was killed during one of the attacks.

Iran Defiant in Anniversary Speech
Reuters Iran intends to send a satellite into space within months and will not retreat in a nuclear row with the West, its president said Monday in a defiant speech on the anniversary of the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Caper Sees $160Mln Art Stolen
The Associated Press Three armed men in ski masks stole paintings by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet worth 180 million Swiss francs ($163.2 million) from a Zurich museum, police said Monday, calling it a ""spectacular art robbery.""

Business

Alfa Group Buys 50% of Builder
Bloomberg Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group bought half of St. Petersburg's IVI-93 construction company as the billionaire's holding starts development projects in the country's second-biggest city.

RusHydro Market Debut at $16Bln
Bloomberg RusHydro, the largest power generation unit of national utility Unified Energy System, was valued at about $16.5 billion in its first day of trading Monday.

EU Gives Nabucco a Boost
Reuters The European Commission said Monday that it had approved an exemption from strict competition rules for Austria's section of the Nabucco gas pipeline to help its preferred project over Gazprom's rival project, South Stream.

Watchdog Threatens Sibir Unit's Rights
By Greg Walters / Bloomberg The Natural Resources Ministry's environmental watchdog on Monday recommended revoking production rights for a unit of Sibir Energy, the London-listed oil company controlled by billionaire Shalva Chigirinsky, for ""serious violations.""

Ex-RusAl Exec Goes to Russneft
Combined Reports Russneft, the oil producer Oleg Deripaska is seeking to acquire, has appointed a former official from the billionaire's aluminum producer as vice president.

Bullish Kudrin Says Inflation Rate Will Slow
Bloomberg Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has increased his forecast for economic growth this year and said inflation may slow, playing down the impact of subprime losses that are constricting global expansion.

Ukraine Seeks $7Bln From Telecom Selloff
Reuters Ukraine expects to sell a 67.8 percent stake in the state fixed-line operator this year for $7 billion, a government minister said Monday, which would make the privatization the country's biggest yet.

TGK-7 Global Shares to Be Kept Off Markets
Reuters Power producer TGK-7 said Monday that it was proceeding with its secondary sale of 3.86 billion shares but that its Global Depositary Receipts will not be listed.

Kovykta Deal Seen This Month
Combined Reports Gazprom may close a deal to buy the Kovykta natural gas field in the Irkutsk region from TNK-BP this month, Governor Alexander Tishanin said, Interfax reported Monday.

$12Bln in Iraqi Debts Written Off
By Tai Adelaja / Staff Writer Russia agreed on Monday to write off $12 billion of Iraq's debt and restructure another $900 million in a landmark deal that could clear the way for Russian oil companies to invest in the war-torn country.

Between the Lines

Medvedev's Rule of Law
By Alexei Pankin An old friend of mine, who is one of the most law-abiding people I know, said to me recently, ""I hereby announce a personal boycott of all licensed video products. From now on, I will buy only pirated DVDs."" So what prompted my friend to go after the copyright holders?

Business in Brief
Vekselberg-Chemezov DealNord Stream Costs HigherInter RAO Cuts ExportsLisin Buys St. Pete PortTurkmen-EU Energy TalksEldorado Planning IPOFor the Record

New York a Bargain in Comparison to Moscow
By Anya Levitov Moscow is the most expensive city in the world for the second year in row. According to the yearly rating by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive than New York. How accurate is this rating?

Armenia's Western Evolution
By Alexandros Petersen The atmosphere in this frigid city is not as dynamic as in Baku or as vibrant as in Tbilisi, but talk around Republic Square is filled with unguarded enthusiasm theses days.

A New Sport Grows By Leaps
By James Marson / Staff Writer Parkour teaches people to overcome obstacles, whether physical or psychological.

Chef's Secrets: Cacciuco
Bocconcino's head chef Kirill Karmalov shares a recipe for a traditional Italian soup.

Get a Few Bad Habits
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer Bar Vrednykh Privychek, or the Bad Habits Bar, describes itself as not a bar for those leading a healthy lifestyle.

Moscow's Siege Mentality
By Alexander Golts President Vladimir Putin's speech before an expanded session of the State Council on Friday reminded me of the simple-minded character Ellochka from the novel ""The Twelve Chairs"" by Ilf and Petrov.

Dubai Developer to Build Suburb
Bloomberg Limitless, a Dubai developer building a desert waterway longer than the Panama Canal, agreed to build a Moscow suburb for 12,000 people with local partner Regional Development & Investment Group.

Chigirinsky Plans Heirs to Dismantled Rossiya
By John Wendle / Staff Writer Cement from the Soviet-era hotel may be used in the construction of several smaller ones.

IKEA Seeks New Land in Moscow
The Moscow Times Swedish furniture giant IKEA is moving closer to encircling both Moscow and its market with the purchase of a 50-hectare plot in the city's northeast, and plans are in the works for the construction of a fourth Mega mall.

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Putin's Legacy

Piety's Comeback as a Kremlin Virtue
By Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writer The warrior saints Alexander Nevsky and Dmitry Donskoi serenely look down at the nave of the church where a new generation of defenders of the Russian fatherland comes to pray.

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