The heads of Yaroslavl and Perm regions became the latest governors to be stripped of their duties by outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev, who has accepted resignations from a dozen regional chiefs since December. The heads of Yaroslavl and Perm regions became the latest governors...

Former Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin, who was appointed as Perm's next governor over the weekend, has promised to improve the region's infrastructure. Former Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin, who was appointed as Perm's next governor over the weekend, has promised to improve the...

The co-owner of a Perm nightclub where 156 people died after a pyrotechnic show ignited a bamboo ceiling was sentenced to six and a half years in a prison colony Monday. The co-owner of a Perm nightclub where 156 people died after a pyrotechnic show ignited a bamboo...

... called by its founder Ilya Varlamov an independent news outlet of "civic journalism," but the Nashi founder went back on his claims when pressed on the question in an interview on Dozhd television. "There was a question about a school in Perm. I said, 'I financed it.' Then the question 'And you are financing everyone?' I said, 'I finance everyone.' In this case, you know, I sometimes joke with a serious face. It happens," Yakemenko said on the show Hard Day's Night. Ridus founder...

... table. First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov were away on vacation. Former Regional Development Minister Viktor Basargin did come, despite his appointment as acting Perm governor a few days earlier. The symbolic value of the meeting didn't mean the Cabinet had a lax agenda. It approved a tax maneuver that Putin touted during his campaign. The change envisages a higher tax burden on businesses that extract natural...

... to secure the desired results for United Russia in the State Duma elections in December and for Putin in the presidential election in March. Second, the Kremlin wanted to install new governors in large, important regions like Samara, Sverdlovsk and Perm where it would prefer to have loyal governors — and no elections — in place for the next five years. For the first time, governors were appointed from among the local political elites, giving a clear nod to the region's dominant business...

... pharmaceutical companies. The federal government is pumping money into state-run hospitals to lure doctors, especially in rural localities where the shortage is most apparent. For instance, doctors under the age of 35 who agree to work for five years at a rural Perm hospital get a million ruble ($33,000) grant. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised in March that doctors' salaries will double regional averages by 2018. But such monetary incentives often pale in comparison to what can be made at a drugmaker in...

... artist act like a mirror, and for some it may be an unpleasant reflection, including for the authorities," Vinzavod's director Yelena Panteleyeva said. Despite Gelman's success partnering with municipal officials to transform the provincial city of Perm into an art hub, many doubt avant-garde art exhibits will draw federal sponsorship. "What can you expect from the state when in the best of scenarios some secretary of a deputy, deputy minister of culture attends the Art Moscow opening?"...

... barred an S7 airline pilot from operating a flight from Frankfurt after preflight testing found traces of alcohol in his blood. Investigators found alcohol in the blood of the captain of an Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737 that crashed in September 2008 near Perm, killing all 88 people on board. But they said the pilot's poor training was the reason for the crash. Aeroflot-Nord is a subsidiary of Aeroflot. 171293 179695 179742

... flight schedule planning, he noted. Russian aviators only have about six days off each month, compared with the 12 days off mandated by U.S. airline Delta, Obodkov said. An investigation by the Interstate Aviation Committee of an Aeroflot-Nord crash in Perm on Sept. 14, 2008, which killed 88 people, found that the daily rest period between the crew's flights on Sept. 11 had been less than half the 12-hour minimum (the crew flew on Sept. 11, 12 and 13), one of many regulatory violations in the crew's...

... and Phuket, Thailand. The 4,100-kilometer trip by train takes almost three days, with prices starting at 3,200 rubles one way. Trains depart from Moscow's Yaroslavsky, Belorussky and Kazansky stations and travel through major cities like Yaroslavl, Perm, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and Tyumen before reaching Krasnoyarsk.