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

Evraz Bets Big on North America
By Catrina Stewart and Tai Adelaja / Staff Writers Evraz Group, the country's biggest steelmaker, said Friday that it would pay $4 billion to acquire IPSCO's North American plate and pipe business, making it the biggest deal yet in the company's expansion into the United States and Canada.

Rice and Gates on Mission to Soothe
By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff Writer Missiles and tanks will top the official agenda when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates arrive in Moscow on Monday for two days of talks.

Lukashenko Hires British Image-Maker
By David Nowak / Staff Writer ""Europe's last dictator"" is trying to put on a better face to help attract investment to provide a boost for its economy.

3,200 White Mice to Serve in Kremlin
Reuters Wanted: 3,200 white mice. Must be female. No more than 18 grams. Purchaser: the Kremlin security service.

Businessman Jailed on Child Sex Charge
By Ker Munthit / The Associated Press A court in Cambodia sentenced Russian businessman Alexander Trofimov to 13 years in prison Friday for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl, the second conviction of a foreigner on pedophilia charges this week.

7 Killed in Taxi Crash With Semi
The Moscow Times Seven people were killed and three others seriously injured when a semi-trailer truck driven by a Slovak citizen collided with a logging truck and a minibus taxi outside Moscow, emergency officials said Friday.

Murder Charge for Adoptive U.S. Mom
Combined Reports An adoptive U.S. mother of three Russian children has been charged with murdering an infant and abusing a 4-year-old boy who was found suffering from malnourishment.

Mother Can't Visit Yabloko Activist
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer The mother of Maxim Reznik, the jailed leader of Yabloko's St. Petersburg branch, said Friday that she was being prevented from seeing her son by investigators worried that he would use the meeting to protest his detention.

Russian Rocket Fails U.S. Satellite
The Associated Press An unmanned Russian rocket failed to put a U.S. telecommunication satellite into its target orbit because of a malfunction after liftoff Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

UN Calls for Armenian Pullout From Karabakh
By Edith M. Lederer / The Associated Press The UN General Assembly approved a resolution Friday demanding that ethnic Armenian forces immediately withdraw from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, but the vote reflected widespread unease at UN interference in efforts to resolve the conflict.

3 Guilty in Gongadze Murder
By Olga Bondaruk / The Associated Press A Ukrainian court has convicted three former police officers of killing investigative journalist Heorhiy Gongadze nearly eight years ago.

President-Elect Gets His Own Web Site
The Moscow Times Dmitry Medvedev now has an official web site reflecting his temporary status as the elected, but not yet inaugurated, president of Russia.

Romanov Heir Congratulates Medvedev
Reuters The self-declared heir to Russia's imperial throne has congratulated Dmitry Medvedev on his election win and urged the future Kremlin leader to fulfill Russia's destiny as a great world power.

Iceland Tracks More Bombers
By Daniel Bases / Reuters Russia's military has stepped up activity over the North Atlantic in the past 18 months, sending long-range bombers through the region no less than 12 times, Iceland's prime minister said.

Report: Security Agents Foil Attempt to Assassinate Putin
Reuters The Tvoi Den newspaper reported Saturday that security forces foiled an attempt by a sniper to kill President Vladimir Putin near the Kremlin this month.

NATO Nears Accord to Use Russian Land
By Mark Johnand Paul Taylor / Reuters NATO said Saturday that it was nearing a deal to use Russian land and airspace to supply its security forces in Afghanistan, but Western diplomats denied any trade-off with Moscow to keep Ukraine and Georgia out of the alliance.

Alitalia Agrees to Air France Buyout
Reuters Alitalia has agreed to be bought by Air France-KLM, the world's biggest airline by revenues, in a deal valuing the near-bankrupt airline's equity at just 138 million euros -- far less than expected.

Albanian Ammo Depot Blast Kills 9
The Associated Press Troops and police cordoned off a smoldering army depot north of the Albanian capital as crews searched Sunday for workers missing following a chain of explosions that killed at least nine people and injured hundreds.

Tibetan Rioting Spreads Into China
By Benjamin Kang Lim / and Chris Buckley Rioting erupted in a Chinese province neighboring Tibet on Sunday, two days after violent protests by Tibetans against Chinese rule in Lhasa that the region's exiled representatives say killed 80 people and injured over 70.

Iranian Leadership Lauds Vote
The Associated Press Iran's conservative leaders on Sunday declared the country's parliamentary elections a victory that showed Iranians' defiance of the West.

Business

Surgut Output Will Fall by 7%
Bloomberg Surgutneftegaz will reduce crude output by 7 percent this year, Ivan Kos, the company's deputy chief geologist, said Friday.

Russia Tops Taiwain on Bank's Index
Bloomberg Russia overtook Taiwan as the top emerging market in Morgan Stanley's model portfolio on prospects that rising oil prices and domestic economic growth will propel earnings for companies such as Gazprom.

Gazprom Neft Will Grow, But Only on Acquisition
Reuters Oil firm Gazprom Neft said Saturday that it did not expect organic growth of oil production this year, although output would rise by 14 percent because of the acquisition of a new asset.

RWE Picks Up Stake in TGK-2 for $400M
By Simon Shuster and Olga Popova / Reuters The German utility becomes the fourth major foreign investor in the country's power-sector reforms.

Rosatom Set for Big Expansion
By Yuriy Humber / Bloomberg On the back of booming global energy needs, the country seeks to build as many as 60 nuclear plants abroad by 2030.

Sberbank, Goldman Sachs Hold Talks
Bloomberg Goldman Sachs may work with the country's biggest lender, Sberbank, on international acquisitions and other projects, Sberbank said.

Inflation Scares Central Banker
Combined Reports Central Bank deputy head Konstantin Korishchenko told a sovereign wealth conference that the bank was ""really worried"" about inflation, while ruling out a stronger ruble as a weapon against price increases.

India to Get Long-Delayed Fighter Jets in May
Combined Reports Russia will begin delivery in May of fighter jets to India for a long-delayed aircraft carrier it is refitting for sale to New Delhi, India's navy chief said Friday.

EU Warns of Spat Over Melting Arctic
Bloomberg Climate change may provoke conflict between the European Union and Russia as Arctic ice melts, easing access to fossil fuel deposits and opening new sea routes, the EU's top two foreign policy officials said Friday.

Metals Trader Inprom Will Pick IPO or Investor Soon
Bloomberg nprom, the country's third-largest metals services company, will either start an initial public offering next month or sell part of the company to a European investor, owner and chief executive officer Igor Konovalov said Friday.

Lufthansa Cargo to Go to Siberia
Reuters Germany and Russia have sealed an accord on moving Lufthansa Cargo's regional transit hub from Astana, Kazakhstan, to Krasnoyarsk, the German Transportation Ministry said Friday.

Moscow Promises Tough Gas Talks
By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer A day after apparently settling a gas price dispute with Ukraine, Moscow set the scene on Friday for further tough talks with Kiev by saying adamantly that the era of low prices was over for good.

Arbat & Main

Bob Is Bootless in Seattle
By Mark H. Teeter As a veteran foreign-language teacher, I was intrigued by the recent New York Times article ""Learning From a Native Speaker, Without Leaving Home.""

Business in Brief
Starbucks in Sistema Talks24-Hour Farming ChannelShell Talks With AstrakhanGeorgian Terminal BoughtSeverstal Eyes U.S. PlantNorth-West Value to TripleRosneft's Tax SuggestionsBaltic Bid Wins ApprovalOil Output EstimatesFor the Record

Ask the Boss: Q: Why might someone turn down a job offer in Russia?
Why might someone turn down a job offer in Russia?

Coping With Russia's Stresses
By James Marson / Staff Writer Psychiatrist Christophe Bagot came to Moscow after treating Russian patients in Paris.

The Game Is Over
By Alex Yearsley The game is over"" were the first words uttered by Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout when he was arrested by Thai police on March 6 after the nearly 10-year ""game"" came to a dramatic end.

Restaurant News
By Nathan Toohey After a week of pancake indulgence, the Great Fast is already upon us. For those who are observing Lent, but find they need to eat out, Moscow's restaurants are ready to provide Lent-friendly meals.

Go With Grabli's Flow
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer The network of gargantuan Grablis has expanded once again, this time adding an oversized outlet at Semyonovskaya Ploshchad.

Cartoons Are the Tip of the Iceberg
An appeal by a group of Protestants to close the 2x2 cartoon channel for purportedly promoting violence and hatred was well-timed.

Snapshots of a Fallen Friend
Todd Pitman, the West Africa bureau chief for The Associated Press, rode behind Dmitry Chebotayev's vehicle when the Russian photographer was killed last year. He describes how the experience changed his life.

News in Brief
New Ryazan Governor10 Killed in CaucasusAzeri Reporter StabbedTusk's Ukraine Plan5 Held in Smuggling Plot

McCain Visits Baghdad
Associated Press Senator John McCain arrived in Baghdad on Sunday for an unexpected visit, a U.S. government official said.

Elections May Hurt Sarkozy
Associated Press President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party was braced for a possible setback as voting got under way Sunday in local elections, his first electoral test and a barometer of his party's political strength.

Tbilisi Campers Should Look to Minsk, Yerevan
By Matthew Collin A gust of wind blows open a canvas tent flap to reveal a man reclining on a camp bed, flicking through a newspaper, while his wife puffs daintily on a cigarette.

Business Boom Is Intoxicating for Muscovites
By Richard Lourie You wouldn't have known by looking around Moscow that March 2 was election day.

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Market Matters

Global Tailwinds Hit Russia's Stocks
By Catrina Stewart / Staff Writer Oil and gold prices punched through to new highs last week, a rare bright spot for some speculators in what was otherwise another week of shuddering losses in the United States.

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