Russian News From Russia…

Museum Night Event To Reveal City Secrets By Irina Titova The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) St. Petersburg’s annual Museum Night will give residents and visitors the chance to check out the city’s cultural hotspots until the small hours of the morning on the night of May 19. The theme [...]

Avia Group Nord Buys Pulkovo-2 Building The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) Pulkovo Airport has sold the distinctive Pulkovo-2 airport building to Avia Group Nord. According to Northern Capital Air Gateway, the consortium that operates the airport, Pulkovo Airport decided to sell the building as it has not been in [...]

Devoted Opposition Remains at St. Isaac’s By Sergey Chernov The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) “Occupy St. Isaac’s” — St. Petersburg’s response to continuing protests in Moscow, dubbed after the square in the city center — entered its second week Tuesday, as anti-Putin protesters continued to gather on St. Isaac’s [...]

Duma to Discuss Housing Homeless By Galina Stolyarova The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) ALEXANDER BELENKY / SPT People will need to be registered as homeless for ten years before getting on the housing list under by the Duma’s new bill. It is a bitter truth that while there are [...]

Superjet Black Box Found The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) AKARTA, Indonesia — Investigators on Wednesday were analyzing the cockpit voice recorder from the Superjet, which slammed into the side of an Indonesian volcano. They hope the final words of the two pilots will help explain what caused last week’s [...]

Police Clear Chistiye Prudy Camp, Arrest 20 Protesters The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) Early Wednesday police ordered opposition protesters camped out on Chistoprudny Bulvar to leave the area, ending a week-long occupation by the demonstrators. Around 20 people were detained by police after they apparently refused to leave the [...]

Pollster: Putin’s Attractiveness Sagging ‘Irreversibly’ The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 17, 2012 (Issue # 1708) The head of independent pollster the Levada Center said President Vladimir Putin’s attractiveness to the public is not only shrinking, but the damage is irreversible. In public perception, “the image of Putin is fading steadily and irreversibly,” Levada Center [...]

Police Arrest 30 Protesters at Barrikadnaya Camp The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 17, 2012 (Issue # 1708) At the protest camp near Barrikadnaya metro station late Wednesday, police detained around 30 demonstrators for offenses that included slashing the tires of a police vehicle. Around 1,000 people gathered Wednesday evening on Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, where opposition [...]

Russian Satellite Takes Highest-Ever Resolution Picture of Earth The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 16, 2012 (Issue # 1708) A stunning 121-megapixel snapshot of the Earth was taken by a Russian weather satellite in what is thought to be the highest resolution picture of the planet ever taken from space. The picture was taken by [...]

Tyumen Emergency Situations Ministry The 31-year-old man became stuck in the trash chute at the 5th floor level after sliding from the 8th floor.

/ Vedomosti High apartment costs have kept St. Petersburg from relocating communal flat residents at a faster pace.

Cash Salary Payments Could Be Eliminated The St. Petersburg Times Published: May 17, 2012 (Issue # 1708) Payment of wages in cash would be forbidden and stores would be forced to install credit-card terminals if legislation being developed by the Finance Ministry is implemented, Vedomosti reported. A Finance Ministry working group has now prepared legislation [...]

Former Bank of Moscow President Andrei Borodin and his former deputy, Dmitry Akulinin, are facing new embezzlement charges, the Russian Interior Ministry’s investigations department said on Wednesday. Investigators allege the two men pocketed over 6.7 billion rubles ($220 million) from money laundering schemes. “According to the investigators’ information, in 2008-2011 these individuals abused their office [...]

The Russian Defense Ministry is planning to buy at least 45 light multipurpose helicopters from a foreign manufacturer, Vedomosti daily said on Wednesday. The paper cited a defense industry source as saying that a contract worth over 6 billion rubles ($201 mln) for the purchase of fifteen AS350 and thirty AS355 Ecureil helicopters made by [...]