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

A Lineup Aimed at Taming Siloviki
By Francesca Mereu and Max Delany / Staff Writers The new makeup of the Cabinet and presidential administration resulting from this week's government shakeup is aimed at undercutting the power that political clans within the security services have accumulated in recent years, former security insiders said.

Medvedev Makes Germany a Top Priority
By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff Writer In another sign of the special relationship between Moscow and Berlin, President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday welcomed German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the first prominent foreign guest to the Kremlin since his inauguration last week.

Security Exhibit Shows Off Russia's Best
By Natalya Krainova / Staff Writer Dancing children armed with toy weapons and dressed in military garb opened a five-day security exhibition at the All-Russia Exhibition Center on Wednesday.

Wary Congress Gets Russian Nuclear Pact
By Susan Cornwell / Reuters U.S. President George W. Bush has asked Congress to review a civilian nuclear deal with Russia, but lawmakers warned that it might be blocked over Moscow's links to Iran's nuclear program.

Medvedev Filling Kremlin With Putin's Former Aides
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer President Dmitry Medvedev is filling the Kremlin with advisers and aides who held similar positions in Vladimir Putin's administration.

Kyrgyzstan Pressured by Rights Group
Reuters U.S.-based Human Rights Watch is urging Kyrgyzstan not to extradite an Uzbek asylum seeker, saying he could face torture if returned to his homeland.

Bush Picks Beyrle as Ambassador
By Anna Malpas / Staff Writer U.S. President George W. Bush has nominated John Beyrle, a career diplomat with extensive experience in Russia and Eastern Europe as U.S. ambassador to Moscow.

NATO Allies Set Up Cyberdefense Center
By Paul Ames / The Associated Press Seven NATO allies signed a deal Wednesday to create a research center in Estonia to boost the alliance's defenses against cyber-attacks, which are seen as a growing threat to military and civilian computer networks.

French Diplomacy Cooled Abkhazia Tensions
The Associated Press A Georgian minister said Wednesday that French diplomacy fended off potentially provocative actions by Russia in separatist Abkhazia.

Lavrov Suggests Guarantees for Iran
Reuters The six powers negotiating with Iran to suspend its uranium-enrichment program could offer Tehran security guarantees, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Wednesday.

Business

Sechin Looks to Raise Oil Output
By Miriam Elder / Staff Writer Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his new energy policy director, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, went on the offensive Wednesday to battle claims that the country's oil production was in decline.

BP Staff Locked Out As Visa Trouble Ends
By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer A court order banning BP employees from working for its Russian unit, TNK-BP, came at a time when some of them were ready to come back to their jobs after a suspension, a BP spokesman said Wednesday.

Ministry Seeks Lock On Fund Spending
By Darya Korsunskaya and Gleb Bryanski / Reuters A deputy finance minister says $50 billion must be set aside for five to seven years.

Enka to Build Generating Unit for OGK-4
The Moscow Times Power generator OGK-4 said Wednesday that it selected Turkey's biggest construction company, Enka, to build a generating unit in the Perm region.

UES Plans to Sell TGK-11 Stake to E4 Group
Reuters Former electricity monopoly Unified Energy System will sell the state's 29 percent stake in power producer TGK-11 to engineering firm E4 Group, sources close to the sale said Wednesday.

Central Bank to Trade on Forex Markets
Bloomberg The Central Bank said Wednesday that it would buy and sell on the foreign exchange market like any other trader to deter speculators from trying to push up the value of the ruble.

Medvedev Vows Aid for Small Business
Reuters President Dmitry Medvedev told his new government on Wednesday to step up efforts to help small and medium-sized businesses choked by red tape and corruption.

Opinion

Putin's Tall Order
By Alexei Bayer One curious feature of Russia's bureaucracy is that the more incompetent an official is, the more likely he is to be rewarded and promoted. This rule has endured under various regimes, from the 19th century to the Soviet period and on to present-day Russia. It provided fodder for generations of Russian satirists, from Gogol to Saltykov-Shchedrin and from Ilf and Petrov to Vladimir Voinovich.

Always a Dissident

Two-Headed Eagle Infected With Bugs
By Boris Kagarlitsky It was rather charming how the inauguration of the new president and the appointment of the old president as the new prime minister fit nicely between Labor Day on May 1 and Victory Day on May 9. Russians commemorated the events by celebrating nonstop for 10 days in a row.

Business in Brief
Rosneft Buys Into ExchangeRusHydro Cuts InvestmentSistema Q4 Profit SoarsRosinter Profits on GrowthTNK-BP's Services UnitConsumer Prices ForecastFor the Record

Rassol Guten Morgen
By Nathan Toohey Every individual has their own personal hangover cure -- for some it's Berocca fizzy vitamins, for others it's a hair of the dog that bit you. Rassol, or pickle brine, has been the cure of choice among Russians from time immemorial. This is not just some folklore remedy -- it even has its backers among the medical community.

Suburban Georgian
By Nathan Toohey / Staff Writer Barbaris is the kind of restaurant that is becoming increasingly hard to find in the center. Rising rents have been squeezing out small democratic cafes, which are being replaced by upmarket fine-dining establishments and cafes run by the big-chain restaurateurs. Luckily, further out from the center, these reasonably priced, down-to-earth eateries can still be found -- Barbaris is one such cafe.

Bring Back War Against Cabinet Fat
The structure of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Cabinet probably reflects his vision of how the government should be run. It has a record number of deputy prime ministers -- seven. This will inevitably create overlapping functions and competition among them, allowing Putin to remain the ultimate powerbroker. For Sergei Mironov, a staunch Putin loyalist and speaker of the Federation Council, this represented the successful realization of public administration reform.

News in Brief
Trolleybus Plows Into 9Rabbi's Grave Desecrated'Russian Consulate Targeted'EU-Russia Talks in DoubtMedvedev Signs Visa Law2 Killed in Nazran FightSpacecraft to Fly in 2018Astronaut Out of Hospital

A Provincial Treasure
By William Brumfield / Special to The Moscow Times The Tver region town of Torzhok offers a range of architectural treasures from the 19th century.

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