Bolshoi Director Dead at 97

Boris Pokrovsky, the renowned Bolshoi opera director, died Friday at age 97, news reports said. No cause of death was given.

President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered their condolences. "Pokrovsky belonged to the galaxy of celebrated masters whose names are rightfully considered the pride of our fatherland's culture," Putin said in a statement.

Pokrovsky became a director for the Bolshoi Theater in 1943 and staged more than 180 operas, including Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and Giuseppe Verdi's "Otello."

He was named People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1961 and was awarded the Lenin Prize in 1980.

Pokrovsky will be buried Monday at Moscow's Novodevichye Cemetery, where cellist Mstislav Rostropovich is also buried. (MT)

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Bill Eases Citizenship Rules

The State Duma passed amendments in a crucial second reading on Friday that will simplify the procedure of getting Russian citizenship for parents with children born in Russia, Itar-Tass reported.

The simplified procedure means that applicants will no longer need to live in Russia for five years and prove Russian skills to receive citizenship.(MT)

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Anti-Poland Paper Removed

The Defense Ministry has removed from its web site a research paper that blames Poland for starting World War II.

The paper, written by an active-duty colonel working at the ministry's history research institute, concludes that Poland's refusal to accede to Germany's demands were what set off the war.

Poland contacted the Russian ambassador in Warsaw for an explanation Thursday. Military officials could not be immediately reached Friday.(AP)

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Canadian Next Space Tourist

AP Laliberte

The Canadian billionaire owner of Cirque du Soleil will blast off into space on a Soyuz spacecraft in September, realizing a boyhood dream when he becomes the world's seventh space tourist.

"I've been introduced as many things in the past -- fire-breather, entrepreneur, performer, partier," Guy Laliberte told reporters late last week. "But today, to be introduced as a private space explorer is an enviable and unbelievable feeling."

He said he had dreamed of traveling in space since he visited a Soviet exhibition on space in Canada in 1967. Laliberte, 49, declined to say how much he paid to blast off with a cosmonaut and a U.S. astronaut on Sept. 30. (Reuters)

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New Yabloko Murder Trial

The Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a man convicted of killing Yabloko's top official in Dagestan, Farid Babayev, in 2007, RIA-Novosti reported.

Dagestan's top court found Dagestani resident Rasil Mamedrizayev guilty of the murder and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

But the Supreme Court declared the trial flawed and ordered a new trial last week. Babayev was shot by unidentified gunmen in Makhachkala in November 2007, a month before State Duma elections in which Yabloko failed to win any seats.(MT)

Russian Party Leads in Riga

RIGA, Latvia -- Exit polls in Riga, the Latvian capital, after municipal and EU Parliament elections on Saturday showed big gains for the Harmony Center, the main Russian speakers' party, and losses for government parties.

The polls showed a historic shift taking place because the Harmony Center was set to win the most seats for the first time since Latvia quit the former Soviet Union in 1991.

The local election results would add to the problems of the ruling coalition, already grappling with the economic crisis.(Reuters)

For the Record

Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych said Sunday the country must retain direct presidential elections, backing off from a controversial idea to shift the elections to parliament.(AP)

Ukraine on Friday confirmed its first case of the new A/H1N1 flu, a Ukrainian who lived in the United States for two years. Three cases of the virus, also known as swine flu, have been confirmed in Russia.(Reuters)

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan met late last week in talks brokered by President Dmitry Medvedev over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. No breakthrough was made in the St. Petersburg talks.(Reuters)

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