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Kremlin Rolls Out Carpet for Obama
By Anatoly Medetsky / The Moscow Times U.S. President Barack Obama offered praise for President Dmitry Medvedev and took a dig at Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the eve of his visit to Moscow — and the Russian government said it was still eagerly rolling out the red carpet.

9 Chechen Policemen Slain as Violence Flares
By / The Moscow Times An unusually large number of attacks have roiled the North Caucasus in recent weeks, including a bloody ambush Saturday that killed at least nine Chechen police officers in Ingushetia, raising new fears that the situation is spiraling out of control in the restive region.

Ordinary Russians Get Chance to ‘Reset’ Ties
By / The Moscow Times People walking by Pushkin Square over the weekend got to try their hands at diplomacy — quite literally.
The symbolic — and misspelled — reset button that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in March resurfaced on Pushkin Square for ordinary people to press as they pondered the state of relations ahead of President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to Moscow, which starts Monday.

Moscow Urges Calm on N. Korea
Combined Reports The Foreign Ministry has called for calm after North Korea stoked regional tensions by firing seven ballistic missiles on Saturday, its biggest barrage of ballistic missiles since 2006.

OSCE Equates Stalinism to Nazism
Combined Reports
State Duma deputies threatened the OSCE with “harsh” consequences over the weekend after the European security body’s parliamentary arm equated the roles of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in starting World War II.

Anti-Graft Bill Clears Duma
Reuters The State Duma on Friday approved anti-corruption legislation proposed by President Dmitry Medvedev that has been broadly welcomed by campaigners.

Orthodox Leader Sees Progress on Estonia
By Ayla Jean Yackley / Reuters The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians said Saturday that progress had been made in talks with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on their dispute over the Estonian Church.

Mitvol Vows Recycling Program
The Moscow Times
Oleg Mitvol, who once led costly crackdowns on foreign companies in his capacity as a federal environmental inspector, said Friday that he would start his new job as the prefect of Moscow’s Northern Administrative District by organizing a recycling drive.

Duma Eases NGO Rules
Combined Reports The State Duma signed off on amendments to ease some restrictions on nongovernment organizations Friday ahead of a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Obama Backs Medvedev on More Freedoms
By Guy Faulconbridge / Reuters U.S. President Barack Obama has used an interview with Novaya Gazeta to support President Dmitry Medvedev’s publicly declared aim of building a freer society in Russia.

Kasparov Pins Hopes on Obama
Reuters U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to meet Kremlin critics while visiting Russia shows that Washington is no longer willing to ignore democracy and human rights to cut deals with Moscow, opposition leader Garry Kasparov said.

Jordan’s Queen Calls for Nuclear Arms Deal
The Associated Press Jordan’s Queen Noor, a founder of an international initiative to eliminate nuclear weapons, called on the presidents of the United States and Russia to advance the cause at their Monday summit by agreeing to significant cuts in their arsenals.

Business

Kremlin Plays Coy on Agenda for G8 Summit
By Nadia Popova / The Moscow Times A top Medvedev aide says his plans for the meeting will be announced Tuesday after his talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.

100 Detained Around Cherkizovsky Market
By Maria Antonova / The Moscow Times
The Federal Migration Service said Saturday that it had detained about 100 illegal immigrants around Cherkizovsky Market, a day after the Investigative Committee said it would “clean up” the sprawling complex and shut it for good.

French Seek More Coordination Of Currency Exchange Policies
Bloomberg French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer on Sunday called for increased global coordination of currencies, joining a debate fanned by China to Russia.

John Deere Plans to Invest $500M
Combined Reports
U.S. farm machinery maker John Deere said Friday that it would invest more than $500 million in new projects in Russia in the next few years, a considerable expansion in one of the world’s largest grain exporters.

Companies’ Foreign Debt Grows
Reuters The corporate sector’s foreign debt grew to $436.8 billion as of July 1 from $420.7 billion as of April 1, the Central Bank estimated Friday, suggesting that there has been renewed borrowing by Russian firms.

Service Industries Contraction Eases
Bloomberg An index of service industries ranging from banks to mobile phone retailers shrank at the slowest pace since October, VTB Capital said Friday.

Forecast 8.5% GDP Fall ‘Too Cautious’
Bloomberg The Economic Development Ministry’s forecast for an 8.5 percent shrinkage this year may be “too cautious” after a report on first-quarter expenditures showed a steep drop in inventories, Troika Dialog said Friday.

Regulators May Stall Stronger Ruble
Bloomberg
The ruble may not appreciate further even as oil prices rise because the Central Bank will intervene to protect exporters, according to Morgan Stanley.

Nabucco Sets Date for Transit Deal
An intergovernmental transit agreement for the Nabucco gas pipeline will be signed in Ankara on July 13, the European Union said Friday.

Magna Bid for Opel Nearing Closure
Combined Reports Negotiations for the sale of General Motors’s Opel unit to Canadian auto parts maker Magna and its Russian partners are progressing well and should soon be complete, the head of GM Europe said in remarks released Saturday.

No VimpelCom for MegaFon
Reuters MegaFon has no plans to buy shares in bigger rival VimpelCom, a source close to MegaFon’s shareholders said Friday, denying a newspaper report.

Opinion

From Brezhnev to Medvedev
Depite the much-discussed diplomatic blunder four months ago, when U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton gave Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov a red button with the word peregruzka (overload) instead of perezagruzka (reset), both Obama and President Dmitry Medvedev are sincerely interested in resetting U.S.-Russian relations.

Arts & Ideas

A Stark Look at Opulence In the UN
By Alexandra Odynova / The Moscow Times Photographer Anton Kozlov Mayr allows visitors to have a peek inside the United Nations, and you may or may not like what you see with his exhibition at the Photographer.ru gallery.

Business in Brief

Business in Brief
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The Different Face of Russia Abroad
We’re not used to thinking of Russia as a country whose citizens leave in large numbers as we do Italy or Ireland. Even in the 19th century, Russians who lived abroad were regarded warily. Suspicion was reinforced in the Soviet Union, with its pervasive spy mania focusing on Russian-speaking foreigners in general.

News in Brief
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Obama Is Prepared to Call Medvedev’s Bluff
U.S. President Barack Obama descends on Moscow on Monday in the first major encounter between U.S. and Russian leaders since they both agreed to hit the “reset” button.”

Advice for President Obama
We expats are delighted that you’ve come for a visit and wanted to give you a few tips for negotiating the city, your hosts and those tricky arms treaties.
First, as you zip around the city at approximately 200 kilometers an hour, you’ll notice that the streets are packed with millions of parked cars.

Community Bulletin Board

Community Bulletin Board
Unknown How to Submit Items Community Bulletin Board is published Monday through Thursday. Please submit notices of up to 40 words by noon the day before you would like one published. E-mail community@imedia.ru , call +7 (495) 234-3223 or fax +7 (495) 232-6529. I. Moscow School 309 for Handicapped Children seeks donations for their psychological development program. Table-top games and sports equipment (for motor skills, hand-eye coordination and spatial orientation); child-sized sofas; Lego-Duplos; and computer equipment would be greatly appreciated. For more information, contact Larisa Mikhailovna, the school director, at tel. 184-3703 (Russian only) or address e-mail in English to Nina Alexandrovna at glades54@mail.ru Get a gulp of fresh air on a three-hour bicycle ride to the spring of the Serebryanka Riva in a beautiful Moscow countryside (Pushkino city). An English-speaking club welcomes you. Bike rental - 200 rubles an hour only. All bikes are retro and in perfect condition.

Market Matters

Market Watchers Size Up Correction
By Oleg Nikishenkov / Special to The Moscow Times
After a dismal 2008, equity markets soared in the first half of this year only to be pulled back to earth in June.
Now, with six months of the year gone, market watchers are scrambling to find a reason for the correction — and peering into the future to see what the rest of 2009 will bring.

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