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

Medvedev Taking Words From Putin's Mouth
By Francesca Mereu / Staff Writer First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has promised to continue Vladimir Putin's policies after his likely landslide victory in the March 2 presidential election. He appears to be continuing Putin's speech patterns as well.

Regions Putting on Election Shows
By David Nowak / Staff Writer Hello to Spring! Goodbye to Winter! Don't worry if you've never heard of either of these festivals, as neither had anyone else until regional officials conjured them up to entice people from their homes and down to their local polling station Sunday.

Big Week for Missile Defense
By Ryan Lucas / The Associated Press Poland's defense minister said Tuesday that high-level talks with Washington this week would be crucial in determining whether his country would allow the United States to set up a missile defense base on its territory.

Medvedev Warns U.S. on Senility
Combined Reports First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev reached out -- sort of -- to Washington on Tuesday, saying he was willing to work with any future U.S. president who was not stuck in the past and did not have ""semi-senile views.""

British Journalist Beaten and Robbed
The Moscow Times A British sportscaster for Russia Today television was in a hospital with head injuries Tuesday after being robbed.

Kasparov Wants Snub for Medvedev
Combined Reports Former world chess champion and opposition leader Garry Kasparov on Tuesday said Western nations should snub First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev following his likely victory in Sunday's presidential election.

Putin Will Make Call to Vote
The Moscow Times President Vladimir Putin will give a televised speech this week calling on citizens to vote in Sunday's presidential election, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Trespassing Transvestite Sent to Prison
Reuters A Japanese man was arrested for trespassing last week after turning up at a high school dressed in a girl's uniform and a long wig, local police said.

Rice Pressures China on N. Korea
The Associated Press U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that she expected China to help prod North Korea into fully declaring its nuclear programs as part of efforts to breathe life into a stalled disarmament process.

'Doomsday' Vault Seeks to Protect World's Crops
The Associated Press A ""doomsday"" seed vault built to protect millions of crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters opened Tuesday deep within an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.

Business

Finnish Firm Leaves, Citing Import Duties
The Moscow Times Finnish electronics manufacturer Elcoteq is selling off its Russia operation, because high import duties on high-tech components have made working in the country unprofitable, the company said Tuesday.

Mechel Unit Plans $4Bln Floatation
Bloomberg Mechel, a coal and steel producer controlled by billionaire Igor Zyuzin, plans to raise about $4 billion selling shares of its mining unit to the public and may do the same for its power and metals assets.

Global Woes Won't Slow Russian IPOs
By Tai Adelaja / Staff Writer Russian companies are expected to raise close to $30 billion this year in initial public offerings, despite the global financial crunch, according to a report released Tuesday by The PBN Company.

Usmanov to Sponsor Dynamo
The Moscow Times Metalloinvest, controlled by billionaire Alisher Usmanov, has agreed to sponsor Dynamo Moscow, the football club announced Tuesday. Kommersant owner and Gazprominvestholding chairman Usmanov will team up with the club, whose advisory board is headed by Audit Chamber chief Sergei Stepashin.

Norway Cancels Order With Northern Shipyard
By Vladimir Isachenkov / The Associated Press A Russian shipyard lost a lucrative contract for building commercial vessels for a Norwegian company, which said its terms were violated -- a failure some media described Tuesday as a reflection of inefficiencies within the country's heavy industries.

New Threat of Gas Cutoff to Ukraine
Bloomberg Gazprom threatened to cut supplies to Ukraine on Monday if an accord on the repayment of debt was not signed by next week, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Gazprom and SUEK Reach Merger Deal
By Simon Shuster / Reuters Energy majors Gazprom and SUEK said Tuesday that they had agreed on the main terms for merging their power and coal assets into a holding company that would eventually sell shares to the public.

Business in Brief

Business in Brief
Shell, Tatneft Eye BitumenGutseriyev Looks to AfricaCrude Exports Tax May RiseRenaissance's Dubai LicenseWest Siberian Drops 7%Polyus Raises Annual Target$600M Pipe Facility BegunCentral Partnership SalesSt. Pete '07 FDI Hits $6BlnFor the Record

A Stolen Election
By Mitchell Orenstein and Serhiy Kudelia Voters have been backed into a corner. Either they vote on March 2 for Dmitry Medvedev or they choose between two perennial candidates -- the political buffoon Vladimir Zhirinovsky and die-hard Communist Gennady Zyuganov -- or the absolutely unknown Andrei Bogdanov.

Price Wise: Getting a Deal on Tofu
By James Marson / Staff Writer Tofu, or bean curd, was first produced in China around 2,000 years ago and was introduced to Japan by priests who had been to China to study Buddhism.

You Are What You Eat
By James Marson / Staff Writer Eating organic food is becoming increasingly popular in Russia, but finding locally grown products is a challenge.

Ask the Sommelier
Kirill Karnishin is head sommelier at Vinoteca Dissident.

Wine, Lobio and Song
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer Traktir Via may be newly opened, but it is 100 percent old school.

The Kremlin's Guide on How to Keep a Job
Regional leaders appear to be anxious about Sunday's presidential election, even though the outcome is all but set in stone. Perhaps it is because their jobs are on the line.

A Way to Let Abkhazia Live a Normal Life
By Yulia Latynina Kosovo has declared its independence. Russia was only a spectator in the process, cheering as loud as it could and threatening the possibility of independence for Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia's two breakaway regions.

New President Needs to Offer New Reforms
By Anders Aslund Russia's official economic policy rhetoric has suddenly turned liberal again. On Feb. 8, President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech to the State Council that resembled an annual address to the nation.

News in Brief
Patarkatsishvili Back Home

Putin's Legacy

Life Gets Better, But Only for Some
By Max Delany / Staff Writer The public protests shook the president and nearly toppled a government. But the thousands of angry demonstrators that flooded onto the streets of towns and cities around the country in January 2005 were not opposition activists protesting the rollback of democracy or Kremlin policy in the Caucasus.

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