03/26/2000

Russian Newsweek editor Mikhail Fishman and opposition politician Ilya Yashin cried foul Thursday after a video surfaced on YouTube that seemingly shows them giving bribes to traffic police officers.

But the announcement was the only outwardly positive news of the day, as Putin said during a meeting on nuclear energy industry in Volgodonsk that Russia would launch Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor this summer.

Aeroflot is ready to hand over its Terminal D for management to Sheremetyevo, which will be running the entire airport until officials are able to select an independent operator.

The prestigious Moscow region town, which currently hosts a premier business school, will have five "presidential" priorities for modernization: energy, IT, telecommunications, biotechnology and nuclear technology, Medvedev said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the nuclear power industry after overseeing the opening of a new reactor in Volgodonsk, Rostov region, that will begin operating at its full capacity of 1,000 megawatts in October.

Yevgeny Skoblikov, 33, was arrested in October soon after he told police that about $6 million and 7 million euros ($10.5 million) in cash were stolen from his rented Moscow apartment.

In the past two years, big energy giants including Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell have snapped up licenses in Sweden, Poland, Germany, France and Austria to explore for shale gas — natural gas trapped in layered rock rather than porous reservoirs.

Sappers removed 916 field artillery shells of various calibers after workers expanding Prospekt Marshala Zhukova stumbled upon the cache, prompting evacuation of residents from two nearby apartment buildings.

Effective Oct. 1, street exchange points will be required to become cash-transaction desks or full-fledged bank branches, otherwise the Central Bank will close them.

The Pete Best Band, fronted by the former Beatles drummer, will headline a Beatles tribute festival at club B1 on Sunday.

Many believe that Moscow should have copied China’s reforms. But what made China’s reforms a success was inapplicable to Russia.

Foreign-based Internet shopping sites are drawing increasing numbers of Russian consumers looking for deals, but as delays mount at the country's notoriously inefficient postal service, many are finding that securing delivery of their items is no simple task.

Extortion by corrupt officials in Russia has gotten so bad that some Western multinationals are considering pulling out altogether, the head of a U.S. anti-bribery group said in an interview.

Some construction workers complain that they are going hungry after pawning their documents and valuables to get food at grocery stores, while sympathetic locals have organized a soup kitchen.

In a rare interview, the editor of Russia Today explains that the growing channel thrives on controversy as its provides an alternative to mainstream media, and polishing Moscow's reputation is not one of its tasks.

The "black box" from a LUKoil executive's Mercedes involved in a fatal crash last month will be sent to Germany for analysis, a source close to the carmaker's Russian office said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won support for Rosatom to build a dozen ultrasafe nuclear reactors in India, part of more than $10 billion in deals in energy, arms, telecoms and other cooperation signed during his visit Friday.

President Dmitry Medvedev warned federal and regional officials on Tuesday that they could find themselves out on the street for not fulfilling his orders in a timely manner, in his latest initiative to raise his profile as the country's top politician.

Aeroflot passengers complained Sunday that they had to sleep on the floor at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport after bad weather delayed their flight by more than 24 hours.

Thousands of Georgians panicked Saturday night when a pro-government television station aired a hoax that President Mikheil Saakashvili had been killed and Russians tanks had invaded their country.

Many believe that Moscow should have copied China’s reforms. But what made China’s reforms a success was inapplicable to Russia.

Bloggers are seething over what they interpret as insensitive comments made by the company after one of its vice presidents, Anatoly Barkov, was involved in a car crash that killed two people. Some have called for a boycott of LUKoil gas stations and a popular rapper has written a song declaring that Barkov will go to hell.

The case promises to reignite Russian anger over U.S. adoptions, a delicate issue in U.S.-Russian relations in recent years, and could tangle efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to "reset" ties that deteriorated under the previous administration.

Moscow has a right to protect its own security, but it does not have the right to interfere in the affairs of its neighbors.

The Kremlin is clearly not content with its diminished power status. But one way it can still project its power globally is to be the spoiler.

Senior state official and rights activists alike have criticized a City Hall plan to display billboards in central Moscow highlighting dictator Josef Stalin's role in the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

Representatives from technology powerhouses Cisco Systems and eBay – along with Twitter enthusiast and actor Ashton Kutcher – are among a 13-member U.S. delegation in Moscow this week for a summit with their Russian counterparts to discuss innovation.

The nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, or LDPR, initiated the howls, calling on Russian Olympic Committee chief Leonid Tyagachyov to resign immediately

Some pundits had suggested that Russian athletes could bring home 30 medals from the 2010 Winter Olympics, but as of Wednesday the team could boast of just one: a bronze from speed skater Ivan Skobrev in the 5,000-meter race Saturday.

Putin’s Olympics will put on display the system he has built, which is why I have so many doubts about the outcome.