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

Voting for a President
Photo Essay Dmitry Medvedev and his wife, Svetlana, registering with an election official before voting at a Moscow polling station.

Bikinis, Pies Pull in Polar Voters
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer Galina Vladimirovna put on her nicest dress and best fur coat Sunday morning, and told her 70-year-old mother to do the same.

Complaints of Fraud, Bribery and Pressure
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer Voters and opposition parties complained of ballot stuffing, bribery and intimidation in Sunday's presidential election, in which Kremlin-backed candidate Dmitry Medvedev appeared set for a landslide victory.

Early Results Give Medvedev 68.5%
By Alexander Osipovich / Staff Writer Dmitry Medvedev coasted to an easy victory in Sunday's presidential election, which saw strong turnout of more than 64 percent of registered voters.

2 Blasts Rattle Dagestan
The Associated Press Two bombings hit a police convoy Sunday in a town in Dagestan, injuring two people on the same day as the national presidential election, officials said.

Tusk Looks for U.S. Army Aid
The Associated Press Poland's prime minister said over the weekend that he intended to sound out officials in Washington on the U.S. approach to helping modernize Polish armed forces in return for accepting a missile defense base.

Bomb Ambush in Abkhazia Injures 3 Police Officers
The Associated Press At least three police officers were wounded Friday in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia after a bomb hit their car and unknown assailants opened fire, an Abkhaz official said. Abkhaz and some Georgia media said Georgian commandos were responsible for the attack. But a Georgian Interior Ministry official denied any involvement.

Moscow Urges Calm in Gaza
Reuters With Israel continuing on Sunday with assaults that have killed more than 100 Palestinians, the Foreign Ministry called on Israel and the Palestinian territories to end the violence to give a chance to peace talks.

Barred Journalist Goes Home
Reuters, AP An investigative reporter denied entry into Moscow last week as a threat to national security returned to her native Moldova on Saturday after her health deteriorated in the Domodedeovo Airport transit area.

Armenia Imposes State of Emergency
By Avet Demourian / The Associated Press Troops and armored vehicles patrolled the main streets of Armenia's capital Sunday following violent protests that left eight dead, dozens injured and led the president to declare a sweeping, 20-day state of emergency.

2 of the 3 Losers Criticize Election
By Anatoly Medetsky, Max Delany and Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff Writers Gennady Zyuganov arrived at the press center of his Communist Party's headquarters a few minutes after national television started broadcasting initial results at 9 p.m. Sunday.

Opposition Ignores 'Farce' and Plans Marches
By David Nowak and John Wendle / Staff Writers A couple of protesters are detained, but most of the marchers are saving their dissent for Monday.

Not Even Weather Can Dampen Putin's Spirits
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer With his protege widely expected to be elected president in a landslide victory, not even the miserable Moscow weather could dampen President Vladimir Putin's mood as he cast his ballot Sunday in southwest Moscow.

Tiny District Looks to Keep Its Perfect Record
By Catrina Stewart / Staff Writer The tiny district of Khabez in the North Caucasus would barely merit a mention were it not for one rather interesting fact.

Business

Norilsk in Talks With Usmanov
Bloomberg, MT Norilsk Nickel will start talks with the management of iron-ore and steel producer Metalloinvest on combining the two companies.

Watchdog Clears Vekselberg to Buy 2 Power Producers
Reuters The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said in a statement Friday that it had allowed Viktor Vekselberg's Integrated Energy Systems to buy control of power producers TGK-6 and TGK-7, but demanded that it sell some power stations.

TGK-10 Price Could Top $4Bln
Reuters Fortum will pay up to 2.7 billion euros ($4.1 billion) for west Siberian power generator TGK-10, should it gain full ownership of the utility, the Finnish company said Friday.

Tymoshenko Says Gas Won't Be Cut
Reuters, Bloomberg There will be no cutoff of Russian gas to Ukrainian consumers, despite Gazprom's threat to reduce volumes Monday over payment arrears and contractual issues, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Saturday.

KIT Finance Rethinks IPO
Bloomberg Investment bank KIT Finance may drop plans for an initial public offering this year and instead opt to sell shares to private investors amid a slump in demand.

Central Bank Says It's Happy to Hold U.S. Mortgage Bonds
Reuters The Central Bank holds several percent of its $484 billion gold and forex reserves in securities in U.S. home finance firms and is happy with the investment, the bank's first deputy head, Alexei Ulyukayev, said Friday.

BoNY Fails in Bid to Have Judge Replaced
By Simon Shuster / Reuters The Moscow Arbitration Court on Friday rejected a motion by lawyers for the Bank of New York to dismiss the judge in the Russian government's $22.5 billion lawsuit against the bank, lawyers for both sides said.

Renault Signs $1Bln AvtoVAZ Deal
By Max Delany / Staff Writer French auto giant Renault completed a deal Friday that could see the company pay up to $1.17 billion for a 25 percent stake in the country's biggest carmaker, AvtoVAZ.

Business in Brief

Business in Brief
5{ Car PlantGazprom in GermanyMoscow Power MergerNovatek to Borrow $800MWBD Profit WarningPower Prices Jump 34%BlackBerry Imports ClearedSedmoi Sales Up 29%Abramovich's Ball BearingsUkraine May Block Pipeline

Treasure Hunt: A Sure Bet
By John Wendle Nesting dolls have gone from enshrining Russia's political leaders to predicting them.

Russian Downhill
By John Wendle / Staff Writer New 36.6 CEO Jere Calmes puts skills learned as a competitive skier to work in the business world.

An Election Can Be Boring and Democratic
By Vladimir Frolov It is true that the presidential election has been somewhat boring.

A Dull and Boring Show
By Vladimir Ryzhkov Every so often in life we come up against situations where we have to do something unpleasant and boring but necessary.

Restaurant News
By Nathan Toohey

A Cafe With a View
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer In many ways, Cafe Shokolad is a typical fashionable downtown cafe.

Right-Wing Russians
By Alexei Bayer It was an exhilarating experience for a 19-year-old. None of my friends in Moscow dreamed of earning a living and having a place of their own.

Market Matters

Investors See Power Handover As Real Test
By Catrina Stewart / Staff Writer Russia may have voted in a new president this weekend, but investors have long since moved on from thinking about who will be Vladimir Putin's successor.

MT News

The Moscow Times Held a Reception for the Mariinsky Theater Troupe
The Moscow Times On the 25th and 26th of February premiers of the Mariinsky Theater took place in Moscow on the new stage of the Bolshoi Theater.

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