SUBSCRIPTION & ADVERTISEMENT OPINION: Page 8 Аренда офисов D A I L Y Tel: 937 6688 / 959 2330 / 37, Fax: 959 2408 E−mail: advt@russiajournal.com, http://www.russiajournal.com ✆ 250 65 75 THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2003 Vol. 6, No. 56 (397) Registration No. 018376. Dec. 30, 1998. The Russia Journal www.russiajournal.com Saddam’s regime topples A statue of the Iraqi leader is destroyed as his rule ends in Baghdad By Hamza Hendawi and Ellen Knickmeyer JOHN R. BOLTON U.S. warns ‘rogues’ to watch Iraq By Philip Pullella Reuters R OME — The United States on Wednesday warned countries it has accused of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, including Iran, Syria and North Korea, to “draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq.” John R. Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, also appealed to Syria and other countries in the Middle East to open themselves up to “new possibilities” for peace in the region. “With respect to the issue of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the postconflict period, we are hopeful that a number of regimes will draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq that the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is See ROGUES, Page 4 B AGHDAD — Jubilant crowds swarmed Baghdad’s streets Wednesday, dancing, looting and cheering U.S. convoys before Iraqis, with help from an American tank, toppled a 12meter-tall statue of Saddam Hussein in a sweeping, WAR IN IRAQ s y m b o l i c esture. — D A Y 2 1 gAmerican commanders declared that Saddam’s rule over the ancient capital had ended. In the most visible sign of Saddam’s evaporating power, the towering statue of the Iraqi president was brought down in the middle of Fardos Square. Cheering Iraqis, some waving the national flag, scaled the statue and danced upon the downed icon. As it fell, some threw shoes and slippers at the statue — a gross insult in the Arab world. “The capital city is now one of those areas that has been added to See BAGHDAD, Page 4 AP AP The Associated Press MEN JUMP on a statue of Saddam Hussein, pulled down in Baghdad with the help of U.S. Marines on Wednesday. Thousands protest in Moscow Russians deny hiding Saddam The Associated Press R ussian's Foreign Ministry spokesman denied what state-run television said Wednesday were Western media reports that Saddam Hussein has taken refuge at the Russian Embassy in Baghdad, saying they “do not correspond with reality.” “Such statements absolutely do not and cannot correspond with reality,” Foreign Ministry By Jim Heintz INSIDE The Associated Press T H E S E R V I C E T ens of thousands of people flooded the eight-lane avenue outside the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday in the largest Russian protest so far against the war in Iraq. Police detained several protesters who threw plastic objects at the embassy, Itar-Tass reported, and a few demonstrators stomped on an See MOSCOW, Page 4 C O M P A N Y AP RUSSIA • Convoy had Iraq files, paper says....... 5 • EU angers Kremlin......................... 5 MONEY • U.S. House rethinks contracts....... 9 WORLD • N. Ireland plan set for release...... 15 SPORTS • Man Utd slips up against Real.....24 See SADDAM, Page 4 AN ESTIMATED 30,000 people march towards the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Cheapest customs clearance Company formation Troubleshooting Tel: (095) 781-02-02 E-mail: info@trend-world.net www.trend-world.net Western Owned and Managed! THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 2 WAR IN IRAQ Tunnels still holding their secrets U.S. forces yet to find bulk of allegedly vast underground network dug beneath Iraq By Robert Tanner The Associated Press AP N EW YORK — The mysterious tunnels of Iraq are rumored to stretch for scores of kilometers, linking palaces, military strongholds and safe houses concealing leaders, treasure or weapons of mass destruction. For U.S. troops strapping on night goggles and venturing underground, the tunnels are a new kind of battlefield in this war. No maps, no light and no handle — yet — on what they might find. “For the type of regime we’re dealing with, the tunnels represent an ideal spot to conceal weapons and serve as a hideout and in some cases an escape route,” said Lt. Mark Kitchens, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is said to have built so many tunnels that just about anything could be underground — troops, weapons or even the Iraqi president himself. “There were all sorts of tips and rumors, ‘dig under this and you will find that,’” said Ewen Buchanan, a spokesman for the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. Buchanan said U.N. arms inspectors in 1998 found a combination of bunkers and tunnels below some of Saddam’s palaces, but not the sophisticated net- SOLDIERS with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne division outside Saddam International Airport as they finish conducting their final clearing checks. The soldiers discovered a 12-room complex in a cave beneath the airport after seizing control Sunday. work that had been speculated about. “But that doesn’t say that they don’t exist,” he said. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Tuesday that U.S. Marines have secured a city south of Baghdad — Al-Tuwaitha — where a nexus of underground labs, warehouses and bomb-proof offices extends beneath a site owned by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Agency. It said 14 buildings betray high levels of radiation and nuclear residue. Weapons inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency recently toured the city, “but did they go underground?” the paper quoted David Albright, a former IAEA inspector in Iraq from 1992 to 1997 as saying. On Tuesday, at the airport outside Baghdad, 150 soldiers of the 101st Airborne’s 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade searched a 12-room complex inside a cave with white marble floors, 3-meter ceilings and fluorescent lighting. They found cigarette butts, tea bags and other signs of recent abandonment — but no Iraqis. “We’re going to have to try to figure out where they go,” brigade commander Lt. Col. Lee Fetterman told The Associated Press at the airport. “There’s no telling.” On Monday, U.S. forces captured an Iraqi colonel in one tunnel who was calling in artillery fire from his hideout. Reports, some stretching back years, allege the existence of tunnels and bunkers built by Serbian, German or Chinese engineering firms, leading from palaces to secret hideaways and more. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeated those claims in December, arguing the futility of U.N. searches for weapons of mass destruction. “They’ve got enormous miles and miles and miles of underground tunneling,” Rumsfeld said. “I don’t know how inspectors on the surface of the Earth can even know what’s going on in the underground facilities.” Hussein al-Shahristani, a scientist who was imprisoned by Saddam and fled during the 1991 Gulf War, told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in February that plans originally called for a subway beneath Baghdad. Saddam “got all the drawings; he told his military, `Go ahead and do them but not for a metro, for our weapons of mass destruction. We can hide them, move them around,’” alShahristani said. “We believe now it is more than 100 kilometers of very complex network, multilayer tunnels.” But al-Shahristani never saw the tunnels himself, he said. DAILY GUIDE: Thursday, April 10, 2003 CULTUREpicks EVENTSdiary WEATHERwatch Thursday, April 10, 2002 OPERA INTERNATIONAL - Madame Butterfly (Puccini): 7 p.m. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich− Danchenko Musical Theater - Notre Dame de Paris: 7 p.m. Theater of Operetta - Helikonomania: 7 p.m. Helikon Opera THURSDAY • PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea’s withdrawal from Nuclear Non−Proliferation Treaty finalized, after three−month transition period. • CARACAS, Venezuela — Government−sponsored meeting marking anniversary of last year’s coup against President Hugo Chavez. Through April 12. • BELFAST, Northern Ireland — British and Irish prime ministers to pub− lish plan for achieving key goals of Northern Ireland’s peace accord. ( WASHINGTON — Separate news conferences by James Wolfensohn, the World Bank president, and Horst Koehler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund. • LOS ANGELES — Alan Greenspan to speak at the Reagan Library. FRIDAY • EARTH DAY. • DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — Commonwealth of Independent States foreign ministers discuss Iraq, regional security and other issues. • HAVANA, Cuba — Nation and Emigration Conference, bringing together Cubans and Cuban exiles. Through April 13. BALLET - The Nutcracker (Tchaikovsky): 7 p.m. Kremlin Palace - Giselle (Adam): 7 p.m. Bolshoi Theater THEATERS - The Fruits of Enlightenment (Tolstoy): 7 p.m. Mayakovsky Theater - Sweet Bird of Youth (Williams): 7 p.m. Sovremennik - A Maid Without a Dowry (Ostrovsky): 7 p.m. Pushkin Theater - Macbeth (Ionescu): 7 p.m. Satirikon - The Passionate Heart (Ostrovsky): 7 p.m. Chekhov MKhAT, small stage - The Death of Ilya Ilyich (based on Goncharov): 7 p.m. Chekhov MKhAT - Yunona and Avos (Vosnesensky and Rybnikov): 7 p.m. Lenkom CLASSICAL - Chopin, Scriabin: Alexander Malkus (piano): 6:30 p.m. Scriabin Museum - Shostakovich, Prokofyev: Russian National Orchestra. Conductor: Mikhail Pletnyov: 7 p.m. Moscow Conservatory, Big Hall - Concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of birth of V.P. Dubrovsky. Osipov Orchestra of Folk Instruments, Dubrovsky Russian Folk Orchestra of Smolensk, Budashkin Russian Folk Orchestra of the University of Culture and Arts. Conductor: Nikolai Kalinin: 7 p.m. Tchaikovsky Concert Hall - Viva Belcanto! "Favor" ensemble directed by Natalia Molchanova: 7 p.m. Gagarinsky − 4 Concert Hall WHAThappened 1741 Prussians defeat Austrians at Mollwitz 1790 US Patent system established 1849 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC) sold rights for $100 1866 American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) forms LIVE MUSIC 1872 First National black convention meets in New Orleans - Kristina Aglints (vocals): 8 p.m. Le Club - Irina Rodiles (vocals) and XL: 8 p.m. M−Bar - Lichnoye Delo: 9 p.m. Schwein - Lift: 10 p.m. Orakul Bozhestvennoi Butylki - Formula-1: 10 p.m. Rhythm−n−Blues - Cabernet Deneuve: 10 p.m. Vermel - Segodnya Nochyu: 11 p.m. B2 - Inner Conflict; Spasm; Robot's (synth-pop): 11 p.m. Bunker - Nuclear Los: 11 p.m. Sixteen Tons - Yevgeny Vostochny: 11 p.m. Tabula Rasa 1872 Arbor day first celebrated in Nebraska, later changed to Apr 22 SPORTS 1896 Greek runner Spiridon Loues wins first modern Olympic marathon in Athens 1912 RMS Titanic sets sail for its first and last voyage 1916 First professional golf tournament held WORLD CITIES RUSSIAN CITIES CITY FORECAST LO/HI (°C) LO/HI (°F) CITY FORECAST LO/HI (°C) LO/HI (°F) Amsterdam Athens Beijing Berlin Brussels Budapest Copenhagen Dublin Geneva Helsinki Istanbul Johannesburg Kiev Lisbon London Madrid Melbourne Minsk Montreal New Delhi New York Oslo Paris Rome Stockholm Tehran Tokyo Toronto Vienna Warsaw Washington Zurich Fair Partly Cloudy Clear Mostly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Snow Mostly Cloudy Showers Light Rain Partly Cloudy Fair Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Fair Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Haze Cloudy Fair Fair Fair Light Snow Haze Mostly Cloudy Fair Partly Cloudy Light Snow Light Rain Mostly Cloudy 0°/8° 10°/15° 9°/14° −2°/4° −2°/8° 0°/8° −1°/4° 2°/11° 4°/10° 1°/4° 3°/9° 12°/26° −1°/3° 8°/17° 2°/11° 2°/20° 12°/0° −1°/3° −3°/4° 20°/39° 1°/2° 0°/7° 0°/10° 9°/15° 0°/5° 13°/26° 6°/13° −1°/2° 0°/7° −3°/2° 3°/6° 1°/9° Arkhangelsk Chelyabinsk Chita Irkutsk Kaliningrad Kazan’ Kemerovo Kirov Krasnodar Kursk Murmansk N. Novgorod Novosibirsk Omsk Perm’ Samara Saratov St. Petersburg Tomsk Ufa Volgograd Yekaterinburg Mostly Cloudy Fair Cloudy Fair Mostly Cloudy Fair Mostly Cloudy Sunny Mostly Cloudy Snow Shower Fair Fair Fair Fair Fair Fair Cloudy Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Fair Mostly Cloudy Fair −5°/5° −1°/12° 0°/0° −4°/0° 0°/4° 0°/11° −5°/1° 0°/11° 1°/10° −2°/2° −5°/3° 1°/11° −6°/3° −6°/8° −1°/12° 1°/10° 3°/7° 2°/5° −6°/2° −2°/14° 1°/11° −2°/11° 31°/47° 50°/60° 48°/58° 28°/40° 28°/48° 33°/47° 30°/40° 36°/52° 40°/50° 34°/40° 38°/49° 55°/79° 30°/38° 48°/63° 37°/53° 36°/68° 54°/0° 30°/38° 26°/40° 68°/102° 34°/37° 32°/45° 32°/51° 49°/60° 33°/41° 57°/79° 44°/56° 30°/36° 33°/45° 26°/36° 38°/44° 35°/49° 1925 F Scott Fitzgerald publishes “The Great Gatsby” 1930 Synthetic rubber first produced 1932 Von Hindenburg elected first German president (Hitler is second) MOSCOW 2-DAY FORECAST TONIGHT 1938 Austria becomes a state of Germany - Rhythmic gymnastics. Moscow championship: 10 a.m. Krylya Sovetov Sports Complex - Athletic dance. Moscow Open championship, Moskva-2003: 10 a.m. Luzhniki Stadium 1945 Allies liberate first Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald (Czech) EXHIBITIONS 1974 Yitzhak Rabin replaces resigning Israeli PM Golda Meir - Vasily Kandinsky and Mark Chagall: TRETYAKOV ART GALLERY ON KRYMSKY VAL (runs until May 10) - Icons from the 15th to early 20th centuries from Viktor Bondarenko's collection: TRETYAKOV ART GALLERY ON LAVRUSHINSKY PEREULOK (runs until April 13) 1979 Soyuz 33 launched with a Russian and a Bulgarian Partly Cloudy Min: 0°C/32°F Wind: From the Southwest at 7 mph Chance of Precip.: 10 % Avg. Humidity: 75 % 1953 “House of Wax,” first 3−D movie, released (NYC) 1960 Senate passes landmark Civil Rights Bill FRIDAY Partly Cloudy Max: 8°C/46°F Wind: From the South Southeast at 4 mph Chance of Precip.: 10 % Avg. Humidity: 66 % 1972 U.S., Soviet Union and 70 other nations ban biological weapons 1981 Computer glitch keeps Space Shuttle Columbia grounded 1989 Intel corp announces shipment of the 80486 chip 1992 NHL strike ends after 10 days SATURDAY Rain/Snow Showers Max: 9°C/48°F Wind: From the East at 5 mph Chance of Precip.: 30 % Avg. Humidity: 73 % 22°/39° 29°/54° 31°/0° 24°/0° 32°/40° 33°/52° 22°/34° 32°/52° 34°/51° 28°/36° 22°/37° 35°/53° 20°/39° 21°/46° 30°/54° 35°/50° 38°/46° 36°/42° 20°/36° 27°/55° 35°/57° 28°/52° LifeStyle Published every Friday www.LifeStyle.ru THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 3 A RUSSIAN PAPER claims that a convoy of Russian diplomats saved Iraqi archives as it left Iraq. — PAGE 5 The Associated Press N EW YORK — The International Red Cross said Wednesday that one of its staffers was missing in Iraq. Medecins Sans Frontieres, meanwhile, suspended its work after two of its staff vanished in Baghdad. Other humanitarian groups also were assessing their ability to work in an Iraq beset by combat and civil disorder even as the need for international assistance grows. The International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday that it feared Vatche Arslanian was seriously injured when the vehicle he was traveling in was hit by gunfire in Baghdad. Arslanian, a 48-year-old Canadian in charge of ICRC logistics in Iraq, has not been seen since Tuesday afternoon, the agency said. Two other ICRC staff members who were with Arslanian when their vehicle was hit escaped and were able to reach the agency’s offices and raise the alarm. “The ICRC has so far been unable to approach the area where its staff member was last seen. Delegates who tried to rescue him had to turn back because of the ongoing fighting,” the Red Cross said in a statement. “There is at present no news of his whereabouts or condition.” The ICRC is virtually the only aid agency working in Iraq at the moment and has six international employees in Baghdad along with local staff. Two of six people working in Iraq for Medicins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, disappeared April 2, said Nicolas de Torrente, the group’s U.S. executive director in New York. “When two staff members go missing, we can’t work under those conditions,” he said. “Unfortunately, we have to suspend operations at a time when civilian needs are mounting.” The organization says it believes that Iraqi authorities may be holding mission head Francois Calas, 43, of France, and Ibrahim Younis, a 31-year-old logistics expert from Sudan. Saddam loyalists remain in pockets around Iraq By Nicole Winfield The Associated Press C AMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar — President Saddam Hussein’s government is no longer in control of Baghdad, but coalition forces still face possible combat in some parts of the capital, an American general said Wednesday. “The capital city is now one of those areas that has been added to the list of where the regime does not have control,” U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at the U.S. Central Command headquarters. “The regime is in disarray and much of Iraq is free from years of oppression.” U.S. Central Command spokesman Jim Wilkinson said the regime had lost control in “most parts of Iraq,” though pockets of regime control remained in the north. Brooks said Saddam loyalists were holding out in the north, including Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, and still posed a threat, including the possible use of weapons of mass destruction. British and U.S. aircraft struck military targets in Tikrit on Wednesday; U.S. troops have tried to block roads from Baghdad to Tikrit to stop Iraqi leaders from fleeing. “We certainly are focused on Tikrit,” Brooks said at U.S. Central AP By Mark Fritz Combat in Baghdad not over U.S. SOLDIERS take their positions as Iraqi people watch in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Wednesday. A piece of a statue of Saddam Hussein, brought down by U.S. Marines, is behind the soldier on the ground. Command headquarters in Qatar. “There is still work to be done.” Noting scenes of celebration in the Iraqi capital, Brooks said there were still some “engagements” in the center of the city around bridges. “We believe the population recognizes that the end is near [for Saddam’s By Adrian Croft Reuters N ASSIRIYA, Iraq — U.S. Marines said on Wednesday they had found photographs of burned bodies and a device to deliver electric shocks in what they suspect was a torture center used by Saddam Hussein’s security services. Files, documents and identity cards litter the floor of the low building in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriya. U.S. Marines who occupy the city believe it used to be an office of Saddam’s Baath Party or of the Iraqi intelligence service. The most sinister part of the building is a dark corner room without windows. The only chink of light Berlin Hause Moscow offer CONFERENCE HALL up to 50 people for business meetings, conferences, negotiations etc Berlin Hause, Moscow, Petrovka street, 5 Tel: +7 095 730-3527, 730-3484 e mail:dronovabbjmos@col.ru fighters, Brooks said. He said there were also attacks on Iraqi positions south of Irbil, and that special operations forces supported by aircraft destroyed tanks and cargo trucks there. Coalition forces have taken more than 7,000 Iraqi prisoners of war, he said. enters through a gap around a fan. Five small cells lead off this room and in one of them was a battery connected to an iron rod which Marine Capt. Pete McAleer said was “probably a primitive torture device.” The corner room is now blackened by fire. Since U.S. Marines found the building, local people have entered it and, McAleer said, deliberately set fire to the room: “I think they’re trying to eradicate what was going on here.” At a different location in southern Iraq last weekend, British troops found the desiccated remains of up to 200 people in an abandoned warehouse, along with catalogs of grisly photographs of what could be torture victims. It was not immediately clear how old the remains were. A good suit should not cost a fortune ALL the best at ONCE xecutive fashions SPRING / SUMMER 2003: Formal striped suit from English wool USD 595 only ROLF Leasing is all you need to lease a car: BBJ Consult AG and government],” he said. But he added: “Downtown Baghdad remains a dangerous place. There’s still potential for combat action.” In the north, U.S. special operations troops and Kurdish soldiers seized a small town about 16 km north of Mosul and captured 200 Marines report torture center discovery The product is sertificated Aid groups reluctant to return WORLD KREMLIN AIDE Sergei Yastrzhembsky accused the EU of ‘hysteria’ in accusations of human rights abuses. — PAGE 5 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Finance and operating lease. Better cash management of working capital. Accommodation the Company capital and operational budgets. Fixed payment provides predictable cash flow. Flexible and long-term form of financing. Better utilization of tax benefits. Expansion of credit sources. Simple and quick procedure for concluding deals. Possibility to upgrade your car fleet regularly. Wide range of non-financial services such as insurance, maintenance and others. Mitsubishi Carisma Sedan Classic 1.6 Downpayment: $ 4 497 Monthly installment $ 442 Elegant all occasion suit made from Mohair USD 650 only Sports jacket from silk wool USD 495 only 5 Egyptian cotton shirts with monograms USD 325 only World-famous brands available: Mitsubishi, Audi, Hyundai, Ford, Volvo leasing@rolf.ru ZAO «Firma Kelvin», tel. (095) 785-1972, fax (095) 785-1952 WWW.ROLF.RU/LEASING 27 Tverskaya st. tel.: (095) 785-2136 www.executivefashions.ru THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 4 WORLD Baghdad: Regime topples A PROTESTER in Moscow tears up a U.S. flag outside the embassy on Wednesday. Moscow: War protest Continued from Page 1 American flag. But aside from those incidents and some obscene gestures made toward the embassy, passions appeared low. A half-dozen speakers briefly denounced the war and prompted some chants of “Down with Bush” and “Shame, shame,” but one of the most enthusiastic responses came from an ironic joke. Alexander Tolsty, a leader of the Moscow branch of the proKremlin Young Unity group, called on students to boycott American fast food and “go to your schools’ cafeterias instead,” prompting a wave of laughter reflecting the cafeterias’ notoriously low quality. The rally was more a testimony to the organizational skills of groups backing President Vladimir Putin. The protest was put together by the Moscow office of the proPutin United Russia party and the Moscow Federation of Trade Unions, a grouping that cooperates with the government — suggesting that if the rally was not arranged expressly on Putin’s orders, at least it had strong Kremlin backing. One protester, a teenager who identified herself only by her first name, Yulia, said she had heard about the rally from friends. Another participant, Viktor Pashenko, said he didn’t know who had organized it. A third, linguistics student Gennady Shamidov, said he came as a member of “Moving Together,” a pro-Putin youth group often compared to the Soviet-era Komsomol, or League of Young Communists. Russian radio stations reported that employers were ordering workers to attend and that classes at higher-education institutes were canceled for the day. Vladimir Varfolomeyev, an announcer at the Echo of Moscow station, compared the protest rally to the sham public demonstrations of the Communist Party in the Soviet era, saying, “I have only one word for the organizers: shame.” The protest clearly had heavy official cooperation. All the neighborhood kiosks that are the lifeblood of Russian shopping were closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., apparently by order, and police closed a three-km stretch of the Garden Ring, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, to allow protesters to converge on the embassy from three directions. Despite the organizational efforts, crowd estimates ranged from 30,000 to 50,000 — far smaller than the 100,000 that organizers had predicted. Many of the demonstrators’ banners and placards were neatly printed, showing substantial preparation. “Bush, hands off Iraq,” said one. “Kosovo. Baghdad. Who will be next?,” said another. The demonstration was as much pro-Putin as anti-war. “Peace, Russia, President” was a common banner slogan and the chant that ended the rally after about 30 minutes of speeches. Rogues: U.S. warning Continued from Page 1 not in their national interest,” Bolton told a news conference. Bolton, in Rome for meetings with Vatican and Italian officials, specifically mentioned Syria, North Korea and Iran in his comments in response to a question about what the postwar period would hold. Iran has said its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes. Syria, meanwhile, has denied U.S. charges of shipping military supplies to Baghdad and lawmakers have accused the United States of double standards in its support for Israel. Bolton was asked about a U.S. poll that showed that half of the United States population supports U.S. military action against Iran if it continues to move toward nuclear weapons development. Another 42 percent of those surveyed said the United States should take action against Syria if it was helping Iraq. “I think Syria is a good case where I hope that they will conclude that the chemicals weapons program and the biological weapons program that they have been pursuing are things that they should give up,” said Bolton, who is known as a leading U.S. hawk. “It is a wonderful opportunity for Syria to foreswear the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and, as with other governments in the region to see if there are not new possibilities in the Middle East peace process,” he said. the list of where the regime does not have control,” said Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at U.S. Central Command in Qatar. While Baghdadis celebrated, the fate of Saddam and his sons remained unknown, two days after they were targeted by four 900-kilogram bombs. In Washington, U.S. officials said multiple sources told them Saddam was inside a building bombed two days earlier. Britain’s Foreign Office, however, said it was possible he escaped. Pockets of Saddam loyalists continued to engage U.S. forces in fighting, said Capt. Frank Thorp, U.S. Central Command spokesman. Members of the 3rd Infantry Division were conducting armored raids within the city, he said. In the north, U.S. and Kurdish troops seized a key mountaintop base outside Mosul while American special forces continued to fight Saddam loyalists in both Mosul and Tikrit to the south, U.S. military officials said. Despite fire and fierce resistance from roving bands of holdout fighters, U.S. Marine and Army units swept through Baghdad, seizing or destroying buildings that once housed some of Saddam’s most feared security forces. Gunshots and explosions rocked the University of Baghdad, where smoke rose over the campus after a firefight, CNN reported. Marine tanks rolled into the heart of the city, on the east bank of the Tigris, greeted by people clapping and waving white flags. Civilians gestured to the Americans with V-forvictory signs. “We were nearly mobbed by people trying to shake our hands,” said Maj. Andy Milburn of the U.S. Marines. One Army contingent had to use razor-wire to hold back surging crowds of well-wishers. The scene of Iraqis and U.S. marines topping Saddam’s statue was telecast worldwide. Later, the statue’s head was dragged through Baghdad’s streets with a noose wrapped around its neck; people alternately climbed aboard for a ride or pounded it with their shoes. Before the statue was pulled down, its head was briefly covered with a U.S. flag by one American marine. “I’m 49, but I never lived a single day,” said Yusuf Abed Kazim, a Baghdad imam who pounded the statue’s pedestal with a sledgehammer. “Only now will I Saddam Continued from Page 1 spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said on Channel One television. “This is an attempt yet another time to place the Russian Embassy in Baghdad under threat.” Channel One did not say where the reports about Saddam’s location originated. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri suggested Wednesday that Saddam might have taken AP AP Continued from Page 1 AN IRAQI MAN swings a hammer at the base of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on Wednesday, shortly before it was pulled down. start living. That Saddam Hussein is a murderer and a criminal.” British Prime Minister Tony Blair and members of his staff watched the events in Baghdad live on television, and were “delighted at what we see in the reaction of the people,” his official spokesman said in London. At police stations, universities, government ministries, the headquarters of the Iraq Olympic Committee, looters unhindered by any police presence made off with computers, furniture, even military jeeps. One young man used roller skates to wheel away a refrigerator. In the north, celebrations also broke out in at least two cities in the Kurdish autonomous region where animosity toward Saddam runs deep. Some honked their horns, others chanted, “George Bush! George Bush!” The Iraqi government’s efforts to sustain its public relations campaign collapsed. State television went off the air Tuesday, and on Wednesday, foreign journalists said their “minders” — government agents who monitor their reporting — did not turn up for work. Also, there was no sign of Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, whose daily briefings have constituted the main public face of the regime during the war. Not everyone rejoiced. “This is the destruction of Islam,” said Qassim al-Shamari, 50, a laborer wearing an Arab robe. “After all, Iraq is our country. And what about all the women and children who died in the bombing?” Civilian casualties have increased sharply since the arrival of coalition forces in Baghdad. At Al-Kindi Hospital, doctors reported receiving more than 30 bodies and 250 wounded. U.S. military officials warned that the fighting wasn’t over. “There are still many days of perhaps fierce fighting to follow,” said Capt. Frank Thorp said at U.S. Central Command headquarters. “There are other areas of the country where we have yet to be at. ... So it’s not over.” shelter at the Russian embassy in Baghdad as part of a U.S.-Russian deal. “Why did the Russian ambassador return to Baghdad? What did Condoleezza Rice do in Moscow? Is Saddam Hussein in the Russian embassy in Baghdad?” Berri told reporters when asked to comment on developments in the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Rice visited Moscow on Sunday and Monday. In Washington, a senior State Department official said there is absolutely nothing to indicate there was any truth to any reports that Saddam was at the Russian Embassy. Iraq’s ambassador to Moscow could not immediately be reached for comment. Russian Ambassador Vladimir Titorenko and most of the remaining diplomats at the Baghdad embassy left Iraq this week, but Russian officials say a skeleton crew is still there. Titorenko left Iraq on Monday, but returned Tuesday to bring an embassy driver — who had been hospitalized in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, when the Russian convoy came under fire Sunday — out to Syria. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 5 CHECHEN REFUGEES in Kabardino-Balkiria are being prevented from settling in the republic despite the Supreme Court’s help. —PAGE 7 REPUBLICAN leaders look likely to drop their opposition to non-coalition involvement in Iraqi reconstruction. — PAGE 9 RUSSIA Convoy had Iraq files, paper says AP Nezavisimaya Gazeta claims Russians were saving Saddam archive The Associated Press SERGEI YASTRZHEMBSKY By Sarah Karush The Associated Press A top Kremlin aide accused the European Union of “hysteria” on Wednesday after the EU and seven other nations submitted a resolution to the U.N. Human Rights Commission criticizing the human rights situation in Chechnya. The 15-nation EU and seven other European countries submitted a draft resolution Tuesday that accuses Russian forces of forced disappearances, summary executions and torture, and calls on See KREMLIN, Page 7 A AP EU angers Kremlin Russian diplomatic convoy that came under fire as it evacuated Baghdad might have been carrying secret Iraqi files that U.S. intelligence officers wanted to seize, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The report by the daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta was quickly denied by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), a KGB successor. “It’s sheer nonsense,” SVR spokesman Boris Labusov said in a telephone interview. Russia’s ambassador to Iraq, Vladimir Titorenko, has accused American troops of intentionally firing Sunday on his convoy outside of Baghdad, but U.S. officials have insisted that it was still unclear who was responsible for the shooting, in which Moscow said at least four people in the convoy were wounded. Russian media have reported that there were two cars with Iraqis in front of the column, and that several of their occupants were killed in the firing. U.S. Ambassador Alexander A POLICEMAN stands guard as the convoy of the Russian ambassador to Iraq arrives at the Russian Embassy in Damascus on Monday after coming under fire. A Russian newspaper claimed it was carrying secret Iraqi files. Vershbow told Echo of Moscow radio on Tuesday that the Russian convoy had apparently changed its itinerary without informing U.S. officials. Nezavisimaya Gazeta claimed U.S. forces opened fire on the convoy in an bid to seize classified materials it was taking out of Iraq — the out- come “of a dangerous game involving the SVR and the CIA.” “One was taking out classified Iraqi archives, and the other was trying to hamper it by force,” the newspaper said. It said that the firing on the Russian convoy appeared intended to incapacitate the vehicles but spare the diplomats, explaining why just one person had received a serious wound. The paper had earlier reported that Russian intelligence agents had been sent to Baghdad to gather archives of the Iraqi secret service in case Saddam Hussein’s regime fell. 4th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE CHEMICAL AND PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES OF RUSSIA, THE CIS & CEE 22 - 23 May 2003, The Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers, Germany An unrivalled event that has fast established itself as the annual meeting place of industry leaders with over 600 attendees at past events Springtime weekend in St. Petersburg Springtime in St. Petersburg is a rhapsody of happy moments. The museums, opera and ballet theatres, art galleries-along with the Grand Hotel Europe, Russia’s most honored host – are ready and waiting. And beckoning. You’ll fall in love with springtime St. Petersburg. 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MEET SENIOR REPRESENTATIVES FROM: * LUKoil, * LUKoil – Neftekhim * SIBUR * Nizhnekamskneftekhim * YUKOS * Salavatnefteorgsintez *Kazanorgsintez * Sayanskkhimplast * Ministry of Industry RF * MOL * PKN Orlen * Unipetrol * Dioki d.d. * * Dow Europe * Lurgi * BASF *Air Products * Solvay * Ciba Speciality Chemicals * Akzo Nobel * Supported by: In association with: Valid till 11th May 2003 For further details please contact our Reservations Department at tel. 812 329 6888 or fax 812 329 6002 Please contact Yulia Khoroshilova on Tel: 44 20 7404 2430, Fax: 44 20 7405 5913, E-mail: yulia@gbusforums.com ;rganised by: GLOBAL BUSINESS FORUMS (UK) LTD. www.gbusforums.com 1/7 Mikhailovskay Street, 191011 St. Petersburg, Russia Tel: 812-329 60 00 Fax: 812-329 60 02 e-mail: hotel@ghe.spb.ru www.grandhoteleurope.com THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 6 RUSSIA Ploy marks start of campaign R OSTOV-ON-DON — A Russian colonel who has admitted he killed an 18-yearold Chechen woman said he began a hunger strike Wednesday to protest the way the case against him — now in its third year — has dragged through the legal system. Col. Yuri Budanov announced his protest as the North Caucasus Military Court convened to start his retrial, his lawyer Alexei Dulimov said. Wednesday’s session focused solely on procedural issues and was held behind closed doors. Budanov was the first Russian military officer to face trial for abuses in Chechnya. His case has attracted wide publicity and is seen as a measure of the military’s commitment to punish abuses. The former commander of a tank regiment admitted strangling Heda Kungayeva in 2000, but said he suspected her of being a rebel sniper who had killed some of his comrades and that he acted in a fit of rage during her interrogation. Kungayeva’s family says she was dragged from her home at night, raped and murdered during a drunken rampage by soldiers. Budanov’s trial began in February 2001, but was subject to numerous delays. Last December, judges of the North Caucasus court ruled that Budanov was not criminally responsible for the killing because he was temporarily insane at the time. That decision, which outraged human rights campaigners and many Chechen civilians, was overturned by the Supreme Court in February and a new trial was ordered. Budanov’s lawyers have requested that the trial be held before a jury. Astronauts wrap up C APE CANAVERAL, Florida — Astronauts aboard the international space station ventured outside for more than six hours to wrap up maintenance tasks on what was probably the last spacewalk for months. Commander Ken Bowersox and science officer Don Pettit finished their work early and spent another 80 minutes collecting tools and tethers that had been left outside during previous spacewalks. Russian flight engineer Nikolai Budarin assisted from inside the station, orbiting 240 miles above Earth. “I want you all to know how happy everybody is, what a great job you guys did,” Carlos Noriega, the spacewalk communicator in Houston, told the astronauts when they returned to the station. “You guys basically set the standard.” The three men are supposed to return home in early May after they are replaced by astronaut Ed Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. — AP Politicians are sniping ahead of Duma vote By Andrew Hurst Reuters I n many democracies it would cause uproar if a senior cabinet minister openly attacked his own government’s economic policies. In Russia, far from signaling disarray in government ranks, recent sniping among Cabinet colleagues may be no more than a none too subtle ploy to revive flagging support for a pro-government political party as elections near. Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov was drafted in last month to revive the fortunes of the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party and lead it into December’s parliamentary election. Within weeks he had fired a salvo against free market reforms, using the platform of a party congress to attack government plans to raise energy prices. “I think it’s a game,” said Yevgeny Gavrilenkov, chief economist with the Moscow investment house Troika Dialog. “They are trying to win electoral sympathies from the communists. They can’t get votes by supporting the government.” Communist support Opinion pollsters VTsIOM show the United Russia Party — the key party in a constellation of centrist groupings backing the government — won only 21 percent of voter support in a recent survey, trailing the opposition Communist Party which had 31 percent. With campaigning for the election to the State Duma, the lower house of the legislative assembly, fast approaching, populist broadsides may start to fly thick and fast, even from within the government’s own ranks. Unlike President Vladimir Putin, whose position is seen as unassailable as he prepares for presidential elections in a year’s time, United Russia has never won massive voter endorsement and is lagging badly in the opinion polls. “The interesting point is that there is not a fundamental split in the government,” said Christopher The Russia Journal Budanov protesting POPULIST broadsides are expected to fly thick and fast during campaigning for the State Duma lower house of parliament. Granville, a former diplomat who is a strategist with investment bank United Financial Group. The party’s criticism of government policy, he said, was “a reflection of the political weakness of United Russia”. United Russia, which together with other centrist parties votes consistently in support of government legislation in the Duma, is not a grassroots movement but relies on the patronage of the Kremlin for legitimacy. “The party of power formula is a dud and always has been,” Granville said. United Russia and the Communists have the largest representation in the 450-seat Duma, with 82 seats each. Gryzlov’s answer to the party’s problems appears to be to beat the populist drum unashamedly. At its congress last weekend United Russia also said it would campaign to keep Russia out of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Accession to the WTO is seen by reformers in Putin’s administra- tion as a key step to integrating Russia into the global trading system and helping complete the transition from Soviet state to capitalist economy. “I don’t think this criticism can have any real consequences,” said Andrei Ryabov of the Carnegie think tank in Moscow. “I don’t think Putin wants radically to change his team. He sees stability as a key achievement.” The European Union has said Russia should not be admitted to the WTO unless it raises the price of gas, which the EU alleges is being sold below cost to subsidize industry. parties profiting from antiAmerican sentiment,” said Ed Parker, a sovereign risk analyst at ratings agency Fitch in London. A senior government official said he was aware of Gryzlov’s remarks, but insisted that the government was unswerving in its determination to join the WTO. “It is the opinion of the government and of the president that Russia should continue accession negotiations and join as soon as possible on terms that are acceptable to Russia,” said Maxim Medvedkov, deputy minister for Economic Development and Trade. But if United Russia orchestrates a crescendo of populist rhetoric in the run-up to elections, some analysts believe it may carry risks for the future. “The more they repeat these mantras the more they have to stand by what they say,” said a London-based political analyst who asked not to be identified. “It remains to be seen if it is a harbinger of a shift by the Kremlin towards reform,” he added. Tough line on WTO Gryzlov’s tough line on the WTO has also been linked to Putin’s strongly critical stance toward the United States-led invasion of Iraq. The Anglo-American offensive is deeply unpopular in Russia. “Putin and the centrist parties have to position themselves to stop the communists and anti-reform Russia has granted 5 mln citizenships The Associated Press N early 5 million ethnic Russians scattered across the former Soviet Union after its breakup were granted Russian citizenship over the last 10 years, Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin told Russia’s lower house of parliament on Wednesday. More than 1 million moved to Russia from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, some 600,000 from Ukraine and 256,000 from Uzbekistan, Interfax quoted Chekalin as saying. He said that about half a million people are given Russian citizenship every year. He also said that up to 2.5 million people are staying in Russia illegally, and that some 200,000 arrive every year. “In the The Russia Journal Briefs RUSSIA wants to do more to track foreigners arriving in the country, including through Sheremetyevo II airport just outside of Moscow. current situation, the federal budget misses out on considerable income in unpaid taxes from the use of a foreign labor force,” Chekalin was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying. Last year, Russia adopted a new law making it more difficult to obtain Russian citizenship. The law requires applicants to spend at least five years in Russia, pass a Russian language exam and have a job to receive citizenship. It also demands that applicants reject the citizenship of other nations. The previous law required only a three-year residence and no language testing. Meanwhile, the Russian government on Wednesday officially gave seven government agencies the right to declare a foreigner persona non grata, and expel or bar the person from the country. The agencies are the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the Health Care Ministry, the Financial Monitoring Committee, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Justice Ministry and the Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the Soviet-era KGB. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 7 RUSSIA Chechens greeted by residence woes Refugees in Nalchik say it is impossible to obtain legal registration By Kazbek Kushkhov IWPR Kremlin Continued from Page 5 Moscow to investigate. The draft resolution came less than a week after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the continent’s top human rights body, voted for a proposal to set up an international war crimes tribunal for Chechnya. Sergei Yastrzhembsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s top spokesman on Chechnya, said the two proposals were a response to last month’s referendum in Chechnya. “When the referendum proved the rightness of Moscow and Chechen society, showing that there can be other political solutions of the Chechen problem, this caused hysteria among those who were counting on different methods of involvement in Russia’s affairs, in order to constantly keep Russia on a hook,” Interfax quoted Yastrzhembsky as saying. The Russia Journal N ALCHIK — Chechen refugees trying to settle in Kabardino-Balkaria cannot get registered in the republic, despite backing from the highest court in the land. Last month, the court, for the third time in just over two years, ruled that new regulations restricting the rights of immigrants were illegal under Russian law. In most cases the incomers are Chechens taking refuge from the conflict in their native republic. They maintain that it is almost impossible to get legal residence in Kabardino-Balkaria, which lies to the west of Chechnya. Around 4,500 immigrants have registered officially, while at least 12,000 are continuing to live illegally, and pay regular fines to the law enforcement authorities. Alamat Umalatov, head of a family of seven, has just paid another 50-ruble ($1.65) fine for being unregistered. “I come from Grozny and I will go back to Chechnya as soon as there is a normal life there,” he told IWPR. “I’ve lived in Kabarda with my family two years now and tried more than once to get formal residency — but without any luck.” When this journalist, seeking some explanations for this situation, went down to Nalchik’s visa and registration department, OVIR, in the local interior ministry, there were scenes of chaos in the building. The corridors were full of Chechens complaining that they were being asked for a whole series of documents, which it was almost impossible for them to obtain. Yet there is no legal reason why they should be put through such an ordeal. The old “propiska” compulsory registration system was scrapped in Russia in 1997, and a Russian citizen now only has to inform the local authorities that he CHECHEN refugees like those pictured in this file photo at a camp in Ingushetia sometimes find it hard to win acceptance as Russian citizens. Those trying to make a new life in Kabardino-Balkaria say it is impossible to obtain registration. intends to live at a certain address. Clamping down Officials at OVIR said that the tougher registration laws came from an act passed by the local parliament on Dec. 26 last year. The new legislation does not allow immigrants to register permanently. It instead orders the local authorities “to halt the registration of marriages if a person getting married is not permanently registered on the territory of the republic,” and also decrees that a child born to parents living in the area unofficially cannot be registered either. Magazali Endreyev, a local parliamentary deputy and former deputy interior minister in the republic said that the new measures were adopted under duress as Kabardino-Balkaria could not cope with the flood of migrants. He told IWPR that they had ini- tially received thousands of Chechens, but now parliament was getting dozens of letters complaining that immigrants were taking local jobs and increasing the crime rate. Endreyev blamed Moscow for the situation, saying it had not anticipated that its so-called “antiterrorist campaign” in Chechnya would cause a tide of refugees in neighboring regions. “Someone has to give these people accommodation, work, education and medicine. But they simply abandoned them here. If this issue had been resolved sensibly at a federal level we would not be taking these extreme measures to defend the interests of our voters.” Laws overturned He admits that the trouble started when the parliamentary acts were declared illegal on March 13, when the republican Supreme Court ruled that the most recent law contradicted federal legislation. This was not the first time the court has struck down legislation that has been voted through parliament. A previous bill restricting immigration was annulled in November 2000 and another law restricting the right to be registered was cancelled in July last year. The parliamentarians are unapologetic. “We knew that this act contradicts existing legislation and we all unanimously voted to adopt it, so as to stop, if only temporarily, the flood of immigrants, especially those from the Chechen Republic,” said Endreyev. Kabardino-Balkaria is not alone in defying the courts. For the past eight years or so, ever since the first Chechen campaign began in 1994, the city of Moscow and its outlying region — as well as the southern areas of Krasnodar and Stavropol — have restricted registration rights for migrants. They have continued to do this despite the federal government’s strong efforts to bring regional legislation into line with its own. The Kabardino-Balkarian parliament’s legal officer Aslan Khamukov conceded in court that the measures the assembly had adopted “are not compulsory and are of a recommendatory nature.” But Said-Ali Abdulkhalimov, Chechnya’s representative in the republic, complained that the local law enforcement agencies enforced these “recommendations” very strictly indeed. “My fellow countrymen, who have found a second homeland here, are being forced to prove that they are citizens of Russia at every step,” he said. “This situation is hardly going to help stabilize our region, which has enough problems as it is.” (Kazbek Kushkov is the pseudonym of a journalist based in Nalchik. This article was published by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, www.iwpr.net.) Doing Business in Cyprus Lowest Corporation Tax in the European Union at 10% No Corporation Tax on ship owning companies Corporation Tax on ship management companies at 4.25% No withholding tax on dividends distributed to shareholders No foreign exchange controls Confidentiality Double Tax Treaties with 34 countries For further information apply to: Savvides Christodoulides & Partners / PKF 229 Arch. Makarios III Avenue, Meliza Court 3105 Limassol Postal Address: P.O.Box 54844, 3728 Limassol – Cyprus Telephone: 357−25868080 , Fax: 357−25582342, email: mail@pkf.com.cy THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003 PAGE 8 OPINION | Editorial e d i t o r i a l A Baghdad Pristina? THE RUSSIA JOURNAL - DAILY Founder and Chairman: Ajay Goyal (ajg@russiajournal.com) President: Sandeep Goel (sdg@russiajournal.com) Chief Operating Officer: Alexander Yakutov (alex@russiajournal.com) Advertising Sales: Tatiana Popova (advt@russiajournal.com) EDITORIAL Editor: Jon Wright (editor@russiajournal.com) Deputy Editor: Carolynne Wheeler News Editor: Zoya Gubernskaya ADVERTISING SALES advt@russiajournal.com PRODUCTION Production Manager: Sergey Milenko Photo Designer: Elena Kozlova, Alla Veselova Advertising Designer: Tatyana Bobkova Published by: Norasco Media, PO Box 75, Moscow 125047; All Rights Reserved, Regd. copyright. Registered with Russian State Committee for Press (Goskompechat). Regn.No. 77-14755, Mar. 3, 2003. Contacts: Moscow: Tel: (095) 959 23 30 / 37, Fax: 959 2408 Washington D.C.: Tel: (1-540) 548 4233, Fax: (1-202) 318 0561 AP F ew events in recent history brought the Russians so much false pride and celebration as the dash to Pristina airport and its occupation in the aftermath of the Kosovo war. Russian forces moved into the airport during the night without notifying anyone, a few hours ahead of the scheduled NATO deployment of troops. This, after staunch opposition to the war that almost ruined Russia-U.S. relations. It was a colorful stunt, but Russia gained little from it besides alienating much of Western opinion. In fact, it could have led to a Russia-U.S. shooting match. For months thereafter, Russian generals were given medals, their egos were stoked and endless rounds of self-congratulation were heard in Moscow. Is something similar about to happen in Iraq — not just involving Russia this time, but also certain NATO member countries? A Russian Army embarrassed by its poverty in the face of the opulence, technical prowess and might of NATO — and especially the United States — took enormous pride in the Pristina dash. TV commentators and newspaper columnists were so euphoric that one might have thought it was the Russians that had won the Balkan conflict, in which they failed to save their Slav brother Slobodan Milosevic from then-U.S. President Bill Clinton’s assault. Milosevic is now in The Hague undergoing a long trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Since then, the Russian Army has had to face the ignominy of an embarrassing campaign in its own Chechen republic. Three years after President Vladimir Putin sent troops into this breakaway territory, more than 50,000 people may have died, including some 5,000 servicemen. But that is not all — bomb blasts, ambushes and skirmishes are daily occurrences. Chechen terrorists drove right into the center of Moscow and took a theater full of people hostage. Then, others managed to blow up the headquarters of the Chechen government installed by Moscow in Grozny. Now, after an impressive military campaign on the part of the Americans and English, the Russians and French want to get back into the game. According to some sources, there are proposals to do “another Pristina” on the Americans, this time in Baghdad — and on a much larger scale, with many more players involved. And this could be the true subject of the upcoming summit between U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russia, Germany and France in St. Petersburg. This time, Annan, himself feeling marginalized by the United States, could offer the white-painted aircraft and infrastructure of his organization as the Trojan Horse to deliver Russian and French forces to Baghdad and other key Iraqi cities. If it works, without firing a shot, just as in Afghanistan, Russia would achieve a considerable strategic victory. It would be a diplomatically daring, rather underhanded but smart move to protect Russian interests in postwar Iraq. If this course of action is decided upon, the French and Germans are also likely to go along and sponsor its daring goals. Naturally, just as the United States and Britain did when they named their war “Iraqi Freedom,” Russians appreciate that such an operation must be done under the cover of a humanitarian effort. Even if the United Nations is marginalized in its role in Iraq, it is unlikely that it will be excluded from distributing rations to the Iraqi people. And what is there to stop Annan from requesting security from Russia and France? A move into Baghdad to provide humanitarian assistance would bring even more public and international support to the troika of Russia, France and Germany than their opposition to a UN Security Council resolution legitimizing the war has already garnered. Arab countries would also welcome the presence of countries that had opposed the invasion. We may be about to see a new, almost-unprecedented geopolitical move. The war may almost be over, but the games are just beginning. HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS — U.S. astronaut Edward Lu is assisted by a Russian staffer (right) before training at a centrifuge at the Cosmonauts’ Training Center in Star City outside Moscow on Tuesday. Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko will ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on April 26 for a six-month mission and replace the current crew. The shoe’s on the other foot Thoughts from our readers A case of hypocrisy To the editor, I read with utter disappointment last week the U.S. State Department’s report on global observance of human rights. Usually, it singles out countries with notorious records of indiscriminate violations of human rights and their low esteem for human beings generally in their respective countries. Personally, I’ve always looked forward to similar reports in the past, which are mainly based on U.S. civil-rights laws, hitherto regarded as worthy benchmarks on these issues as guidelines on human-rights problems on the global scene. Then, such reports more or less reflected the real human-rights picture around the world, as they usually pointed out countries whose tyrannical leaders had committed many violations in the period under review, including murder, snuffing out opposition, curbing civil liberties and/or unleashing unnecessary suffering on the very people they have sworn an oath to serve. This time around, I waited for the release of the report with a special interest to see how it would reflect the sordid war atrocities the U.S.-led forces have unleashed in countries where they are purportedly fighting the disciples of the “Axis of Evil” or the exporters of al-Qaida-style terrorism. However, the United States, apart from the ongoing war atrocities, has been applying Mafia-style methods in obtaining information from POWs from Afghanistan in its base in Cuba and reigning in hard-fought-for civil liberties at home. Britain has passed laws allowing for detaining suspected terrorists without granting them access to relatives or lawyers and revoking duly earned U.K. citizenship from immigrants if their activities are deemed not loyal enough. Both were left off the list. There are two obvious observations to make on the latest report. First off, it has given me the impression that the rights of Afghans tortured by Taliban thugs for failing to observe their twisted interpretation of the Koran differed from those in Cuba being tortured by the CIA or other official structures extracting information from them. Please don’t try to argue that Taliban agents have been willingly divulging information in Cuba to U.S. officials. Second, for the past several years, the State Department has dedicated a substantial part of such reports to the Russian Army’s atrocities against Chechen civilians. Looking at the current report, I’d naively expected to find a similar raft of facts and figures on the atrocities of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan. On the relevant figure for Iraq, I agree that the compilers of the report might not have been able to calculate in the ongoing atrocities there because of the time factor. But, going by the Afghanistan case, I don’t have any illusions that the State Department will ever document the ongoing violations in the Persian Gulf — such as naming the 12-year-old Iraqi whose head was split in two in the first days of the war. As U.S. officials have said several times, the world has changed since Sept. 11, 2001. And, so, also, has the United States’ self- appointed position as the global monitor of human rights. Presenting such reports under the prevailing war-mongering conditions — which show utter disregard for civilians, diplomats and journalists — is nothing short of barefaced hypocrisy. Amy C. K. Davids, IT specialist, Johannesburg, South Africa A dangerous town To the editor, I, a dark-skinned person, have lived in Moscow for more than 10 years and have seen a continuous decline in the way I am treated. Even more so, threats of violence have grown increasingly common — and more than once I have come to blows. When will people realize that foreigners are not the cause of their problems here? And when will the police and government start to care? Name withheld Moscow Letters to the editor Readers are invited to submit letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and content. Submissions should contain a full name, city of residence and a daytime telephone number or e-mail address to confirm their origin. Send your letters to jonw@russiajournal.com, or by mail to The Russia Journal, Ozerkovskaya Naberezhnaya 50, Office 451. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 9 WORLD STOCKS (Wednesday close) TOKYO RTS DAX 8,058 370.80 2,746 0.91% 0.58% 0.78% MONEY WORLD STOCKS (Wednesday close) CAC FTSE DOW 2,888 3,861 8,247 0.19% 0.19% 0.63% *10:30 p.m. Post-war Iraq trade in debate U.S. House rethinks Iraq contracts Ban on Russian, French, German firms likely to be dropped from bill By Laura Litvan By James Kirkup Bloomberg Bloomberg W ASHINGTON — A provision barring French, German, Russian and Syrian companies from winning U.S. contracts to rebuild Iraq is likely to be dropped from an $80 billion bill to pay for war costs, a House leader said. Republican leaders are prepared to drop a House amendment blacklisting four countries that opposed the conflict if the White House requests it, said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the No. 2 Republican. A parallel Senate bill lacks the provision. “I think it was an important point to make,” DeLay said in a meeting with reporters. “But we need to work with the president, who needs to make those types of decisions, and we shouldn’t be making them for him.” The administration has already made clear its opposition to the provision through the U.S. State Department. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage sent a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert before last week’s vote, urging lawmakers to reject it. Secretary of State Colin Powell later spoke out against it. “We believe it would be better if there were not such conditions placed in the supplemental,” Powell said April 4 at a news conference with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. The amendment was added April 3 on the House floor without a rollcall vote. House and Senate negotiators are working to complete a final version of the legislation in time to send it to President George W. Bush by his April 11 deadline. The principal author of the provision, Republican Representative on Taganka on 1905 Goda on Varshavskoye Shosse on Bashilovskaya str. fleet sales retail sales credit leasing registration in GIBDD insurance 3 year warranty tuning driving skills school special offers for corporate clients UNIFIED INFORMATION DESK: 788-6868 AP L ONDON — Iraq’s postwar government should not trade with companies that worked with Saddam Hussein’s regime, U.K. Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt said in comments aimed at France and Russia. “If I were an Iraqi minister in the new Iraqi government, I think I would personally take a poor view of companies that have been breaking United Nations sanctions and supporting Saddam’s vile regime,’’ Hewitt told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. France’s Total Fina Elf SA reached agreements with Hussein’s government during the 1990s to develop Iraq’s oil reserves, the second largest after those of Saudi Arabia. Because of U.N. sanctions, those agreements weren’t signed. The only publicly traded European oil company to have signed an accord with Iraq is Russia’s LUKoil. Hewitt’s remarks may inflame an international dispute about which countries will share in Iraq’s economic redevelopment should the U.S.-led invasion of the country succeed in toppling Hussein. France and Russia have opposed the war. Hewitt’s remarks “are not acceptable,” Francois Rivasseau, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said in Paris. “We are forced to ask for explanations from the British authorities.” Bush’s plans mean U.S. companies may be top beneficiaries of contracts to rebuild Iraq. U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov (right) in Brussels for talks last week. Powell warned against a U.S. House amendment that would block Russia from contracts to rebuild Iraq. George Nethercutt of Washington, said the amendment is a message that “should serve as fair warning to those who would seek to profit from the sacrifice of Americans.” The amendment wouldn’t affect U.S. subsidiaries of companies based in the affected nations, a loophole designed to protect U.S. jobs. The French, German and Russian foreign ministers, whose countries have been the most vocal opponents of the U.S.-led military effort, said last week that reconstruction won’t just be left to coalition forces. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said efforts to restrict contracting “aren’t realistic.” In his letter to Congress last week, Armitage said the provi- sion would undermine U.S. trade ties with other nations. “It would also jeopardize the type of support we are attempting to build within the United Nations, support which aims to unite the international community in a forward-looking effort to build a better future for the people of Iraq,” he wrote. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 10 MONEY | Russia report Need to protect investors’ rights growing Concrete legislation is required to fully restore the Russian economy By Christopher Kenneth The Russia Journal The Russia Journal/Gleb Shchelkunov W GEORGY POLTAVCHENKO, presidential envoy to the Central Federal District, called protection of investors’ rights a ‘top priority task’ for his district’s administration. He spoke at a conference Tuesday. rights in Russia, which will only be possible if these mechanisms combine the efforts of the state with free-market economic structures for protecting the investors and the rights,” read an excerpt from the deliberations. Titled “Guaranteeing Investors’ Rights: Problems and Mechanisms,” the conference at the President Hotel late Tuesday was attended by over 20 regional governors as well as representatives of the Supreme Arbitration Court, the Supreme Data to be revealed Reuters T he Russian government is preparing to reveal data on its stocks, output and sales of platinum group metals and diamonds, business daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday. Currently data on platinum metals (PGMs), which are widely used in jewellery and in the automotive and electronics industries, are considered a state secret. The paper, quoting amendments to the law on state secrets prepared by the finance ministry, said data on stocks of PGMs and diamonds kept in the central bank and the state precious metals and gems repository Gokhran would remain secret. Vedomosti quoted an explanatory note to the amendment as saying the market could already deduce output and sales volumes of the metals and stones, but an attempt to further conceal official data would destabilize the market. “After 30 years of selling Russian diamonds De Beers has quite a clear view as to the average price of Russian diamonds, their kinds and quantity,” Vedomosti quoted the document as saying. Russia should stop being secretive about diamonds to join United Nations efforts to crack down on diamonds which support military actions. Otherwise Russian diamond exports could be suspended, the paper quoted the explanatory note as saying. The Finance Ministry declined to comment. In January, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said before the end of this year the government would draw up a plan to liberalize the PGM market aiming at gradually lifting export restrictions. All holders of PGMs in Russia, with the exception of the world’s largest palladium producer Norilsk Nickel, can only export via precious metals agency Almazjuverlirexport (Almaz) under government-issued export quotas. Norilsk has a joint venture with Almaz USA to sell all PGMs abroad and has a 10-year palladium quota and a five-year quota for exports of sister metals platinum and rhodium. IMF payment ready Prime-Tass T he Russian Finance Ministry has reserved $25.38 million and 930,000 euros to be paid on its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday, a finance ministry official told Prime-Tass on Wednesday. The official said that the payment would be made on schedule. The country’s current debt to the fund stands at about $7 billion, including $1.9 billion due this year. Russia stopped borrowing from the IMF in the summer of 1999. Russia’s total foreign debt due this year stands at $17.3 billion. Court and other law-enforcement agencies. Delegates concluded there is an urgent need to set out concrete ways to protect investors’ rights and investments. “To adequately protect investors in our district and Russia at large, there is F A C T B O X RAIFFEISEN ZENTRALBANK OSTERREICH AG (RZB) Web site: www.raiffeisen.ru Founded in 1862 OVERVIEW • Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG (RZB) is the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, a universal banking group with a comprehensive range of financial services • One of the leading commercial and invest− ment banks and a leading player in Central and Eastern Europe • Has 14 network banks and 2 representative offices in 14 Central and Eastern European countries, including Russia, Belarus and Ukraine • Has a branch in London and representative offices in Brussels, Paris, Milan and Malta • Has branches in Beijing and Singapore and representative offices in Seoul, Hong Kong, Bombay, Ho Chi Minh City and Tehran www.BusinessFinder.ru • Operates in Russia since 1996 as CJSC Raiffeisen Bank Austria • Member of the Association of Russian Banks • Has 4 branches in Moscow and 1 in St. Petersburg • In February 2003 CJSC Raiffeisen Bank Austria opened a line of credit worth $50 mln for MTS SHAREHOLDERS Raiffeisen Zentrabank Osterreich — 99% Raiffeisen International Beteiligungsgesellschaft — 0.5% Raiffeisen−Invest Gesellschaft — 0.5% MANAGEMENT Walter Rothensteiner — chairman of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG Michel Perien — chief of the Moscow Branch Board The largest Russian industry database online. Raiffeisen Bank plans to up Priorbank stake Part of expansion in former Soviet Union By Todd Prince Bloomberg M INSK — Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG, Austria’s fourth-biggest bank, plans to raise its stake in Priorbank, Belarus’ third-largest lender, as Raiffeisen expands in the former Soviet Union. Raiffeisen, the No. 1 foreign bank in neighboring Ukraine and the second-largest foreign lender in Russia, will make an offer for the 50 percent it doesn’t own, said Jeff Millikan, managing director of Raiffeisen International Beteiligungs AG, the holding company controlling Raiffeisen’s banking subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe. The Austrian lender bought a 50 percent stake in Priorbank in January for 30.6 euros ($32.7), or 76 cents a share, becoming the first foreign bank in the former Soviet state. Raiffeisen will offer 76 cents for each of the remaining shares. “The Belarus market has been ignored by Western banks and this country will soon share a border with the EU,” said Millikan. A presence in Belarus might also help the bank win a mandate to advise the government on its plans to sell state assets, he said. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owns a 13.5 percent in Priorbank and may not sell its stake, Millikan said. The rest is owned by companies and individuals. Priorbank had 70 branches with almost 400,000 clients as of January. It had 202 million euros in assets as of June 30, 2002. AP ork to develop a more effective legal framework to protect investors’ rights in Russia is underway following a conference by business community representatives and top government functionaries in central Russia. Vasily Kichedzhi, the deputy presidential envoy to the Central Federal District, said the forum aimed to build a bridge between the business community and authorities, and work out a functioning mechanism to solving problems facing investors in the district. According to conference deliberations and special reports, prepared in collaboration with investment house Aton and made available to The Russia Journal on Wednesday, full restoration and development of the Russian economy will not be possible without attracting and pooling investors’ capital for the local market. “And, this in turn, will not be possible without setting up reliably functioning mechanisms of protecting and guaranteeing these investments and their owners’ a need to keep track of all cases of violation of investors’ rights as well as setting up a mechanism for effective coordination of government and investors’ efforts to remedy the situation. “Other means include enacting legislation to enshrine these requirements and making sure that all participants, including the investors and the authorities, follow these requirements on the local market,” the report said. Georgy Poltavchenko, the presidential envoy to the Central Federal District, said the protection of investors’ rights is a top priority task in his policy for the district, which comprises 18 regions covering a territory several times the size of the Netherlands and Belgium combined. “One of the surest ways to guarantee investors’ rights is to try and draft business-friendly legislation, and ensure a willingness from the business community to play by the rules of the game,” he noted. “And second, we will try to work out a fair and civilized mechanism of resolving corporate conflicts in the business community to prevent ugly situations usually associated with such disputes. “Unlike other countries with longer histories of resolving corporate disputes, resolving corporate disputes always has a negative undertone in Russia, and one of the aims of this conference is to change this negative trend,” Poltavchenko said. A LINEUP for a piracy exchange program in Moscow. Putin signs law on copyright Prime-Tass P resident Vladimir Putin has signed into law amendments to Clause 146 of the Criminal Code providing for tougher measures against intellectual piracy, the presidential press service reported Wednesday. Under the law, plagiarism, if it caused considerable damage to an author or another copyright holder, is punishable by a fine of 200 to 400 minimum wages or a fine equal to two to four monthly salaries of the lawbreaker. Currently, the minimum wage is set at 450 rubles a month. Otherwise, a lawbreaker can be sentenced to 180 to 240 hours of compulsory labor or jailed for three to six months. Similar punishment, different from the one above only in the maximum duration of confinement, which in this case can be up to two years, awaits those who violate copyrights by purchasing, keeping or transporting pirated copies of works in order to sell them. For persistent violations, confinement can reach up to five years. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 11 MONEY | Russia report Sual finds French partner Commodity price index dropping Sual, Pechiney to join in building facility in northern Komi region A reversing of earlier trends sends the price index below its threemonth moving average Reuters F Prime-Tass AP rench metals giant Pechiney SA and Russia’s secondlargest aluminum producer, Sual, plan to set up a joint venture to build an aluminium facility in Russia’s northern Komi region, Sual said on Wednesday. “Sual is expected to keep a controlling stake in the project, while Aluminum Pechiney may buy a 35-40 percent stake,” a Sual statement said. It said the two companies had signed a cooperation agreement for the Komi Aluminum project in the Komi region. Sual controls the Sredni Timan bauxite deposit with proven reserves of 250 million metric tons. The $2.1 billion project includes building a refinery for alumina, an intermediate product for aluminum smelting, with 1.4 million metric tons of annual capacity, and an aluminum smelter, with an annual capacity of up to 500,000 metric tons. Sual said it would begin building the facility by the end of the year. “The association of the Sual group, Russia’s second-largest primary aluminum producer, with Pechiney’s experience and technologies in alumina and aluminum production give us a real possi- STEEL ROLLS are loaded on a platform for shipment at a St. Petersburg port. bility of fruitful cooperation with the Russian aluminum industry in the future,” the statement quoted Jean-Dominique Senard of the Pechiney executive committee as saying. Sual manages 21 subsidiary companies involved in the aluminum business. It produced around two million metric tons of alumina and 865,000 metric tons of primary aluminum last year. This is Sual’s second venture with a foreign partner this year. Sual announced in January it planned to form a new international mining company, in partnership with Fleming Family and Partners, a private group owned by the Scottish Fleming banking dynasty. The company would include existing Sual enterprises, as well as FF&P’s ferronickel project in Cuba and a tantalum project in Mozambique. Armenian flights cut Prime-Tass R ussia plans to prohibit Armenian airlines from flying over Russian territory if they do not immediately pay off all their debts to Russia’s traffic controllers, the director of Russia’s Main Air Traffic Control Center, Ernik Teimurazov, told Itar-Tass Tuesday. The debts of Armenia’s airlines now exceed $2.5 million, he noted. “We are undertaking expensive upgrading of control equipment and therefore we need funds,” Teimurazov said, adding that the center’s debts to Russia are increasing. “Russia understood well the financial difficulties of its Armenian colleagues and tried not to use ultimate measures. However, since autumn 2002 the debts have risen critically and Armenia is doing nothing to pay them off,” he said. F A C T B O X SUAL HOLDING One of the top ten aluminum companies in the world, the second largest in Russia Web site: www.sual−holding.com RTS Index: SUAH Founded in 2000 OVERVIEW • Annually extracts 4.4 million tons of bauxites; produces 1.7 million tons of alumina, over 50,000 tons of cryolite, over 45,000 tons of silicon and almost 675,000 tons of primary aluminum • Makes over 90% of Russia’s bauxite, over 55% of Russia’s alumina, 20% of Russia’s primary aluminum production • Russia’s largest producer of silicon • 43% of products are sold on the open market at the London Metal Exchange www.BusinessFinder.ru Access Industries (Eurasia) will be the third partner in the venture, contributing its coal mining assets in Kazakhstan. M oscow Narodny Bank’s (MNB) commodity price index for Russia reversed its recent trend and declined by almost 5 percent in March to 98.9, falling below the three-month moving average, MNB reported Wednesday. MNB’s Russian commodity price index is a fixed-weight, export-based index that includes the price movements of 22 commodities key to Russian exports. The weights signify each commodity’s average share of export values from 1996-2001. MNB said in its report that despite a modest increase in the forestry products index, the remaining sub-indexes were all down. The largest losses occurred in the energy index, with 5.8 percent, and in the precious metals index, with 5.4 percent. “While events in Iraq and the subsequent impact on oil markets continue to dominate, such losses were also influenced by an easing in supply-side concerns, notably the rise in U.S. commercial stockpiles, Venezuelan production approaching pre-strike levels and a perceived settlement in ethnic unrest in Nigeria,” MNB said. Notwithstanding the likelihood that ‘event’ risk will lead to further volatility in global commodity markets, at current levels the overall index remains 8.3 percent higher than levels recorded at end-2002, MNB added. The recent rally in the energy prices appears to have halted somewhat in March, with the MNB energy sub-index falling 5.8 percent to 103.6, as declines were registered across all components. The metals and minerals index fell 1.6 percent on the month from last month’s two-year high to 95.2 in March. Gains in zinc, tin and fertilizer were offset by losses in the aluminum, copper, lead and nickel components. The forestry products index increased 1 percent on the month, rising to a preliminary 98.9 in March from a revised 97.9 in February. The agriculture index declined marginally in March, down 0.6 percent on the month to 96.7. Falls in both wheat and barley price components drove the index down. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 12 MONEY | Russia report Sterling cooperation rewarded Moscow-based telecom company recognized for work in local partnership F A C T B O X STERLING GROUP Web site: www.sterling.ru Founded in 1992. OVERVIEW • The main activity — consulting and pro− viding complex solutions and services in IT and telecommunication; automation and monitoring of production processes; business−consulting and project manage− ment • Has 12 branches in Russia and the C.I.S. • In 2002, Sterling Group was a Top 10 system integrator in Russia • 7th among the 50 largest Russian con− sulting companies according to the total revenues from consulting services in 2002 • Over 1/3 of clients work in oil, gas and energy industries • Number of employees — 132 By Christopher Kenneth The Russia Journal Sterling S terling Group, a Moscowbased IT consulting company which provides IT programs, services and computersoftware products to large Russian companies, has been awarded the status of SAP Local Alliance Partner, in reflection of the high level of partnership cooperation between the two companies. The status, awarded Tuesday, is the fourth such recognition of cooperation for telecom companies in C.I.S. and Baltic States that are working with SAP AG, the Germany-based global provider of IT services and computer software products, the companies’ officials said. Sterling Group, which focuses on systems integration, is one of the oldest and most reliable partners of SAP, said Alexei Shlykov, general director of SAP operations in the C.I.S. and Baltic States. “The group has been actively and successfully working with SAP’s Russian corporate clients, especially in the oil and gas sectors. And we know that we can always find support from the group for our new products and MOSCOW IT company Sterling Group’s president, Sergei Tokmakov. initiatives for companies on the Russian market,” he added. To receive the status, the aspiring company has to have a pool of highly skilled and duly certified experts with at least five-years of experience working with SAP software products. “It’s only a large company with expertise on enterprise-resource planning and a substantial share of consulting in the sector that can be awarded this status,” said Sergei Tokmakov, Sterling Group’s president. The volume of consulting services provided to Russian clients on the implication of SAP prod- MANAGEMENT Sergei Tokmakov — president www.BusinessFinder.ru ucts constituted a third of the group’s operations undertaken in 2002. On the whole, the growth of consulting services in the group’s turnover was 60 percent over the previous year’s figure, he noted. The group’s gross turnover in 2001, excluding taxes, stood at 24.5 million rubles. That jumped by about 26.5 percent to 31 million rubles in 2002. The company has ambitious plans to increase this figure by 30 percent in 2003. Local companies that have used the services of Sterling Group include oil major Tatneft; Motor Sich, a Ukraine-based aviation engine manufacturer and Aeroflot, the nation’s No. 1 airline. “A major positive effect from the installation of SAP products is that it has enabled us to get complete and fully reliable data which are necessary to take managerial decisions in real-life regime,” said Nikolai Yegorov, Aeroflot’s deputy general director in charge of information technology. “Effective management of administrative expenditures enabled us to drastically reduce management costs, which in turn, helped to boost our profits in 2002,” he noted. Federal War ups rail cargo volume surplus at $60.7 mln S Prime-Tass R ussia’s preliminary federal budget surplus in the first quarter totaled 0.1 percent of the country’s expected gross domestic product, the Finance Ministry reported. The preliminary surplus totaled 1.9 billion rubles ($60.7 million), the ministry said in a statement e-mailed to news services. Revenue rose 0.2 percent to 580.2 billion rubles, or 20.9 percent of GDP. Spending was 578.2 billion rubles. The ministry did not provide spending figures for the year-ago period. Most of the budget’s revenue came from taxes, which totaled 391.5 billion rubles, the ministry said. Custom fees accounted for 154.9 billion rubles. Russia, the world’s secondbiggest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, is expected to run a budget surplus for the fourth consecutive year after oil prices rose to decade highs in 2000. Russia’s surplus before interest payments, often called the primary surplus, totaled 85.2 billion rubles, or 3.1 percent of GDP. Russia’s preliminary budget figures usually overstate spending because they record all money allocated as expenditures. The final surplus may be greater because those figures only record money actually spent. T. PETERSBURG — Container cargo shipments via the Trans-Siberian Railroad to and from Asia-Pacific countries may increase 30-35 percent as a result of the war in Iraq, Transportation Minister Sergei Frank told reporters Tuesday. Frank said the amount of container shipments via the railroad has already started to rise and the Transportation Ministry is now developing a program to cope. Frank said cargo shipments are being redirected because shippers find alternative routes safer. The Russia Journal Prime-Tass Boris Lapidus, head of the Railways Ministry’s economic department, was quoted by Itar- Shatura sees Q1 sales increase 27 percent Prime-Tass Russia’s furniture market. T Diamond ruling he sales of Moscow Region-based furniture maker Shatura increased 27 percent on the year in the first quarter to $23.746 million, an official with the company told Prime-Tass Wednesday. The official attributed the increase in the company’s sales to Shatura’s investment strategy. In 2002, the company spent more than $14 million on production development and on improving the quality of its products, the official said. Shatura, which was established in 1961, is estimated to account for about 12 percent of R ussia’s Finance Ministry ruled Wednesday on the amount of commission that Almazyuvelirexport, Russia’s governmental trading agent and the only body authorized to trade in precious stones and metals abroad, receives when exporting cut and natural diamonds. Under the ruling, Almazyuvelirexport will receive 4 percent of the contract value of cut diamond exports and 3 percent of the contract value of uncut diamond exports. Tass as saying Tuesday that the Trans-Siberian Railroad could make up to $1 billion a year on cargo shipments from AsiaPacific countries. As a result of the war in Iraq, container shipments on the Trans-Siberian Railroad have already increased “almost three times.” Container cargo shipments via the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Asia-Pacific countries to Europe increased 7 percent on the year in 2002 to 48,300 containers. Sibneft gains on rumors Reuters S hares in Russia’s fifthbiggest and fastest-growing oil firm, Sibneft, extended this week’s gains on Wednesday on a fresh round of rumors that a western major is poised to buy a stake in the company. Vedomosti reported a source close to Sibneft shareholders said the rumors circulating in the market were not without foundation, which boosted Sibneft shares 0.9 percent to percent to $2.21. The stock has gained about 6 percent this week. The report named Royal Dutch/Shell, ExxonMobil Corp and TotalFinaElf as potential buyers of 25 to 51 percent of Sibneft. None of the companies mentioned would comment on the reports. Last year similar rumors circulated at least three times. “The rumors seem to be getting ahead of themselves. We’d be surprised if anything concrete came out of it soon,” said Michael Sito, a salesman at Troika Dialog. BP, the world’s third-largest oil company, pledged a $6.75 billion investment in Russia in February through a deal to buy a 50-percent stake in Russia’s third-largest oil firm TNK. The move was the biggest foreign investment in Russia of the postSoviet era. Sito said the rumors, coming so soon after the BP deal, were bound to excite the market. “That deal was a long time in the making and we don’t think anybody else is positioned well enough yet to do anything,” he said. Martin Diggle, a director at Brunswick UBS Warburg, said the rumor had surfaced last week. “The market is treating it with a high degree of skepticism,” he said. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 13 MONEY | Russia report Russian stock market roundup Global market roundup RTS hits 3-week high Asian stocks slide on SARS Bloomberg R ussian oil stocks rose, led by Surgutneftegaz, the nation’s fourth-largest oil producer, as a record number of shares changed hands amid speculation the company was buying its stock. Investors sold Mosenergo, the Moscow utility, after the cut-off day to buy and register holdings to elect board members. Almost 90 million Surgut shares changed hands, or about six times the daily average over the last three months, amid speculation management may be buying the stock, traders said. Surgut is not buying shares, said Dmitry Zhdanovich, head of investor relations. “The very large buying in Surgut certainly heated up interest in other oils,” said Vladimir Tchkikvadze, a trader at NIKoil. The Russian Trading System Index rose 0.6 percent to 370.80, its highest in more than three weeks. Surgutneftegaz, Russia’s fourth-largest oil producer, advanced 0.9 cents, or 3 percent, its largest gain in about four weeks, to 30.6 cents. Yukos, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, rose 9 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $9.73. LUKoil gained 15 cents, or 1 percent, to $14.80, more than a three-week high. Mosenergo fell 0.29 cents, or 5.6 percent, its sharpest fall in a month, to 4.9 cents. As of today, investors buying Mosenergo through the RTS can no longer qualify to vote at the upcoming board election. The monopoly supplier of heat and electricity to Moscow has gained 55 percent this year partly as investors tried to boost stakes to elect board members next month. Reuters,Bloomberg, The Associated Press N EW YORK: Stocks dropped on Wednesday as worries over the state of the U.S. economy and corporate profits stopped an early rally sparked by television images of Iraqis celebrating the apparent end of Saddam Hussein’s rule. By late afternoon (10:30 p.m. in Moscow), the Dow was down 52.31 points, or 0.63 percent, to 8,246.61. The Nasdaq was also down, 15.93 points or 1.15 percent to 1,367.01. LONDON: U.K. stocks fell for a second day amid concern an end to the war in Iraq may not revive economic growth. GUS, Britain’s biggest catalog retailer, led the decline. The benchmark FTSE 100 Index lost 7.4, or 0.2 percent, to 3861.4, for a two-day decline of 1.9 percent. The FTSE All-Share Index shed 0.2 percent to 1847.59. The FTSE 100 surged 9 percent in the five days ended Monday as investors bet a quick resolution to the war would restore business and consumer spending. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown today cut his economic growth forecast for the second time in five months to between 2 percent and 2.5 percent this year. Eight of Western Europe’s 17 benchmark indexes fell. Germany’s DAX Index declined 0.7 percent, and France’s CAC 40 Index lost 0.2 percent. HONG KONG: Most Asian shares declined Wednesday, as sluggish sentiment on Wall Street hurt Tokyo prices and Hong Kong investors remained spooked by the outbreak of a deadly respiratory disease. Tokyo’s 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 73.80 points, or 0.91 percent, to close at 8,057.61. Earnings warnings from several U.S. companies raised concerns about the profit outlook of Japanese firms. Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial, copier manufacturer Ricoh and pharmaceuticals maker Takeda Chemical Industries all closed down. Hong Kong shares fell as investors sold property stocks amid fears that the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, could spark further declines in residential prices and commercial property rents. The Hang Seng Index plunged 169.81 points, or 1.9 percent, to 8,636.85. SEOUL: South Korean shares were dragged lower by worries about first-quarter corporate results. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 17.85 points, or 3 percent, to 569.47. TAIPEI: Taiwan shares edged down, led by losses in technology issues, as investors focused on eco- nomic worries. The Taiwan Stock Exchange index shed 15.06 points, or 0.33 percent, to 4,537.39. SYDNEY: Australian shares dipped on earnings worries and uncertainty over the fate of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The All Ordinaries index fell 24.90 points, or 0.85 percent, to 2,915.70. WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares closed marginally higher, with investors turning attention away from the Iraq war to focus on economic fundamentals. The NZSE-50 index gained 2.48 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,974.53. SINGAPORE: Shares sank, with sentiment dampened by concerns over the spread of SARS and its economic impact. The Straits Times index closed at 1,292.85, down 25.27 points, or 1.9 percent. KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares plummeted, with investors concerned about SARS after reports that Malaysia will stop issuing entry visas to travelers from China. The Composite Index of 100 blue chips lost 5.67 points, or 0.9 percent, to 634.41. MANILA: Philippine shares slid as investors cashed in on recent gains. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 12.11 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,095.64. BANGKOK: Thai shares edged up slightly, boosted by speculative buying. The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index added 0.38 point, or 0.1 percent, to close at 376.20. Gazprom eyes Turkmen gas French deal signed Bloomberg G azprom, the world’s top natural gas producer, may sign a 25-year contract to buy gas from Turkmenistan as it struggles to find $12 billion it must spend in the next two years to maintain output from depleted Russian fields. President Vladimir Putin will meet Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller to talk about long-term gas purchases by the company from 2004. The two presidents also plan to sign an agreement to cooperate on gas projects, Gazprom said in a statement posted on its Web site. Gazprom, which holds about a fifth of the world’s gas reserves, wants to extract more gas to keep market share in Europe. Demand for Russian gas from companies such as Gaz de France and Ruhrgas AG is expected to rise as economic growth picks up and domestic supplies dwindle. “If this contract is signed it would give Gazprom a break for the development of new fields,” said Pavel Kushnir, an analyst at United Financial Group brokerage in Moscow. “The question is the gas price — whether it’s profitable for Gazprom to market this gas in Russia or Europe.” The company last year reversed three years of declining production, during which its output shrank 7.5 percent. Turkmenistan, which has the second-largest gas reserves in the former Soviet Union after Russia, plans to export 38 billion cubic meters this year, enough to meet more than half of Italy’s gas needs. “The agreement will change the entire configuration of the gas market in the former Soviet Union and maybe in Europe,” said Grigory Kolodin, a spokesman at the Turkmen embassy in Moscow. “Turkmenistan can yield a lot of gas, but it’s constrained by the capacity of the pipeline.” Gazprom is in talks with Turkmenistan to build a $1.7 billion pipeline to carry as much as 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year from 2006, almost doubling Turkmenistan’s exports, Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ryazanov said in February. Reuters T he world’s biggest natural gas company, Russia’s Gazprom, said on Wednesday it had signed a deal to supply Gaz de France with 8 billion cubic meters of gas yearly until 2015. “The agreement guarantees the stability of gas supplies to France and strengthens cooperation between our companies,” a Gazprom statement quoted Gaz de France President Pierre Gadonneix as saying. THE MOST IMPRESSIVE RESIDENTAL COMMUNITY offers WESTERN STYLE APARTMENTS at AFFORDABLE PRICES You will enjoy professional management, secure environment, respectable neighbors, numerous amenities, child−care center, sport facilities and more… Norasco is looking for: Finance Manager For Internal cash flow planning, budgeting, forecasts and account management. Must have at least 3 years experience in a western company. Education in finance and accounting. 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Executive M.B.A. Program Europe Campus, Barcelona, Spain The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 15 A BEETHOVEN manuscript could fetch up to $4.6 million at a sale in London next month. — PAGE 18 IRA bombers jailed L ONDON — A judge sentenced five Irish Republican Army dissidents Wednesday to between 16 and 22 years in prison for a series of bombings in London and Birmingham. Robert Hulme, 23, his brother Aiden Hulme, 26, and Noel Maguire, 34, were convicted Tuesday of endangering life and severely damaging property in connection with the 2001 bomb attacks, which police have blamed on a group known as the Real IRA. Judge Richard Gibbs sentenced Maguire and McCormack to 22 years in prison and gave each of the Hulmes 20 years. Hannan received a 16year sentence. Afghans killed B AGRAM, Afghanistan — Eleven Afghan civilians were killed when an American warplane pursuing enemy attackers mistakenly bombed a house near Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The civilians were killed when the bomb landed on the home on the outskirts of Shkin, 220 km south of the capital, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Douglas Lefforge, who called the deaths a “tragic incident.” The killings occurred after unidentified assailants attacked a checkpoint manned by soldiers allied to American forces near the town, the military said from its Bagram Air Base. Before the attack, Lefforge said the assailants had also engaged Pakistani soldiers across the border with automatic weapons fire. — AP N. Ireland plan set for release Leaders prepare to unveil new blueprint for peace By Shawn Pogatchnik The Associated Press B ELFAST — Britain and Ireland prepared Wednesday to unveil a long-awaited blueprint for advancing the Northern Ireland peace accord and reviving a power-sharing government of Protestants and Catholics. The British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, were expected to publish their plans Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the Good Friday pact. Both governments have been working on them since October, when Northern Ireland’s CatholicProtestant administration was shut following allegations of Irish Republican Army spying. The Anglo-Irish document would be designed, in part, to spur the IRA to renounce violence and resume disarming within weeks. That, in turn, could pave the way for power-sharing to be revived before or after a May 29 legislative election here. U.S. President George W. Bush, who met Blair and Ahern in Northern Ireland earlier this week, joined with them Tuesday in appealing for bold peacemaking moves from the IRA. “None of this will work unless there is a commitment from the AP Briefs WORLD LUIS FIGO and Raul led Real Madrid to a spectacular 3-1 win over Manchester United on Tuesday. — PAGE 24 U.S. PRESIDENT George W. Bush (left) with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern near Belfast on Tuesday. The leaders appealed for peace in Northern Ireland ahead of the release of a plan on Thursday. IRA, and from paramilitaries in general, to ensure we live in a peaceful and democratic Northern Ireland. There has to be a cessation of paramilitary activity — real, total and permanent,” Britain’s governor for the province, Paul Murphy, told lawmakers Wednesday in London. But Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, whose IRA-linked party is at the center of the political deadlock, said he wouldn’t accept any new proposals that made his party’s involvement in any future administration conditional on IRA good behavior. The major Protestant party, the Ulster Unionists, insists that Thursday’s expected proposals must include new powers that would allow Sinn Fein to lose its Cabinet seats if the IRA is linked to any further activity at odds with its 1997 cease-fire. Britain and Ireland planned to recommend something along these lines. “This party is not going to be accountable for anything other than ourselves,” insisted Adams, whom historians identify as having served as a senior IRA commander for the past quarter-century. U.S. to relocate South Korea garrison Reuters S EOUL — The United States said on Wednesday it would relocate a sprawling garrison in central Seoul as soon as possible as part of a realignment of its 37,000-strong troop contingent in South Korea. Washington has kept troops stationed on the divided peninsula for 50 years to deter North Korea, but many South Koreans — particularly those with no memories of the U.S. role in the Korean War — have come to resent their presence. After an initial two-day meeting of senior South Korean and U.S. officials on how to alter the size and location of the U.S. forces, a joint statement said the two sides had agreed to shift the Yongsan garrison in Seoul “as soon as possible.” The statement said the aim was “to resolve inconveniences to Seoul citizens.” The United States would “consolidate” the structure of its bases, the statement said. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 16 WORLD SARS outbreak hits Hong Kong retailers By Elaine Kurtenbach The Associated Press H ONG KONG — Something’s missing in this city, where haggling in the markets is a favored pastime of locals and tourists alike: the customers. The spreading outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is a nightmare for retailers abandoned by shoppers, and the downturn appears to be dealing its hardest blows to small Balkan leaders meet By Katarina Kratovac The Associated Press B ELGRADE, SerbiaMontenegro — Leaders from southeastern European nations gathered Wednesday to discuss a range of issues — from boosting Balkan relations and tackling organized crime to the war in Iraq. At the regional summit, heads of state and government of Serbia and Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania and Turkey were exploring ways of improving regional stability and economic cooperation. The participants of the oneday meeting in Belgrade were also to issue a joint statement on the Iraq war. Most back U.S.-led efforts to oust Saddam Hussein but face public disapproval of the war. In an opening speech, Croatia’s President Stipe Mesic said the “world today is an interdependent place” and that he believed Balkan nations “support a strengthened United Nations role” in postwar Iraq. The summit took place as Serbia was still reeling from the March 12 assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, a reformist leader who was instrumental in improving Serbia’s postwar ties with its neighbors. Djindjic’s slaying prompted a nationwide crackdown on a network of organized crime and Serb paramilitaries from the Balkan wars of the 1990s, groups which Belgrade leaders blame for the killing. The summit was the sixth annual meeting of the SouthEast European Cooperation Process, a group founded to promote political and economic ties in the region. “This meeting is the best acknowledgment of the democratic reforms our region has accomplished so far,” President Svetozar Marovic of Serbia and Montenegro said. storekeepers, who usually scrape by on skimpy margins. “A lot of them are probably going to go bust,” said Angela Moh, a retail analyst at investment bank Morgan Stanley. Local supermarkets and drug stores, dominated by big retail chains, have more resources to ride out the slump and may fare better as families fearful of contracting SARS in restaurants buy food for home cooking and stock up on daily necessities. As in the United States and elsewhere, big retailers — such as the ParkNShop supermarkets and the Watsons drug stores run by Hong Kong’s richest man, tycoon Li Kashing — have replaced many mom-and-pop shops. SARS may speed up the trend. “The smaller guys will be harder hit because they don’t have the bargaining power of the big boys. But the big ones also have no escape,” said Phoebe Wong, a retail analyst at Nomura Securities in Hong Kong. David O’Rear, chief economist for the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, says he believes the slump is so bad that no one is profiting. “There is blood in the streets,” O’Rear said. One recent weekday afternoon, sales clerks easily outnumbered customers throughout the upscale Pacific Place shopping mall. Usually bustling downtown streets and sidewalks were quiet. The brightly lit furniture and interior decor shops along Queens Road East were virtually deserted. “It’s terrible, the worst it’s ever been. There just aren’t any customers,” said Jimmy Ng, manager of the Mandarin Woodware furniture shop. Ng wouldn’t provide sales figures, but he said he believed the SARS fallout is much worse than what he saw during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Seeking to entice customers with one of the hottest-selling items in the city, scores of shops — shoe and cap sellers, stationery stores, umbrella peddlers — displayed surgical masks. Many Hong Kongers are wearing the masks in hopes of curbing the disease that has killed 25 people and sickened more than 900 in this territory of 6.8 million. The Retail Management Association, which includes 500 companies with more than 5,000 retail outlets that employ twothirds of Hong Kong’s retail sector work force, said business has been halved. Retailers are asking landlords to cut rents temporarily, but the real estate companies — who charge some of the highest prices in the world — are being hurt by SARS, too, and it’s unclear if many would be willing to give tenants any relief. Abu Mazen delays forming Cabinet By Hadeel Wahdan The Associated Press R AMALLAH, West Bank — Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime ministerdesignate, has asked for a two-week extension to form his long-awaited government, Palestinian officials said on Wednesday. Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, was expected to name his Cabinet by Thursday but said he needed more time, said Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Cabinet minister. A senior Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the delay stemmed from a dispute over Abbas’ choice of interior minister. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, meanwhile, met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Wednesday, becoming the first senior government minister to visit Arafat since the Israelis destroyed most of his office compound last year. Arafat said much of the meeting with Fischer focused on the U.S.backed “road map” to Palestinian statehood. Arafat also said he expected a new Cabinet to be named by Saturday, even though Abbas asked for a two-week extension. “We had a long meeting and I think it [the Cabinet] will be appointed in a few days ... maybe it will be Saturday,” Arafat said. New government The publication of the threephase “road map” to Palestinian statehood depends on Abbas assuming power and him creating a new government. Arafat reluctantly appointed Abbas, his longtime PLO deputy, giving in to intense international and domestic pressure to reform his corruption-plagued regime. The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — which make up the so-called “Quartet” of Mideast mediators — have given Israel and the Palestinians several drafts of the peace plan, the last dated December 20, 2002. They say they will formally present the plan, thereby setting it in action, after the Palestinian parliament confirms the Abbas Cabinet. “A real breakthrough in the reform process is necessary,” Fischer said Wednesday. AP Shoppers stay at home as the virus spreads PALESTINIAN LEADER Yasser Arafat talks to reporters outside his office after meeting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Wednesday. Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeineh said that Abbas asked Arafat for the extension and Arafat agreed. Although under the Palestinian reforms passed a month ago Arafat has no formal say in the composition of the Cabinet, Abbas appears reluctant to trigger a confrontation with him and officials said there is a dispute over the appointment of the interior minister, who commands the security forces. Abbas favors former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who is also backed by international mediators and is seen as likely to reform the competing and sometimes autonomous security branches and crack down on militant groups. Arafat wants to retain his longtime aide Hani al-Hassan, who has served as interior minister for months but has made no significant move to reform the security services. Meanwhile, clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians killed at least three people Wednesday, including a 16-yearold boy, as thousands poured into the streets to mourn seven killed in a missile strike. Israeli troops shot and killed a 21-year-old member of the Islamic militant group Hamas, a 35-yearold policeman and a 16-year-old boy, witnesses said Wednesday. The army said it fired at the 21year-old who was near a rocket launcher but was unaware of the other two deaths. Earlier on Wednesday, Hamas militants fired a homemade rocket at an Israeli town in retaliation for a missile strike that killed a top Hamas commander and six others. There were no injuries in the rocket attack on the town of Sderot. Missile strike Thousands poured into the streets on Wednesday for the funerals of the six people killed in the missile strike on Tuesday. An Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile that slammed into a white car, turning the vehicle into a pile of flaming rubble. A second missile exploded in the street, wounding at least 50 bystanders, witnesses said. The coffins of the dead were covered in green Hamas flags. Angry mourners shouted “God is great, revenge, revenge!” Some fired guns in the air. Israeli security sources said the target of Tuesday’s airstrike was Saed Arabeed, 38, a senior Hamas commander responsible for a series of deadly raids against Israelis over the past decade. Two of the dead were Hamas militants, Palestinians said, while the other dead and wounded were civilians. An explosion in a West Bank high school, meanwhile, injured at least 29 students Wednesday, Palestinian police said. At least four of the students were seriously wounded. One of the students at the school in Jaba, a village outside the West Bank city of Jenin, was playing with the explosive device before it exploded, police said. The student found it outside the school and brought it to the classroom, said Haider Ershade, Jenin’s mayor. The Israeli army said there were no forces in the area at the time but troops have often patrolled the village searching for militants. Palestinian police said the device was Israeli-made, Ershade said. MONTHLY MAGAZINE March 2003 On the cover 74 Car insurance pitfalls Russia now has mandatory auto insurance. But are insurers sufficiently up to speed? By Ivan Vorontsov 12 Intellectual Capital Consumer market Putin may be Russia’s last chance, says Ajay Goyal. 22 Energy-sector reform: Looking backward 79 Russian brands hit Europe and forward Is the worry over the breakup of Russia’s electricity-grid monopoly really about politics? 28 Russian retail Kalashnikov isn’t just a rifle any more. By Christopher Kenneth Corporate governance Hypermarkets and other retail outlets are slugging it out with the traditional kiosk. By Christopher Kenneth 81 Corporate governance ethics 54 Russian science, Western money: A happy marriage? Recent studies say businesses are starting to play by the rules of the game. By Christopher Kenneth Can foreign cash bring back the old Soviet scientific powerhouse? By Martin Ritchie 84 Big business to bring order to corporate governance? 6 Index 14 Quotes of the month Russia’s tycoons say they want to bring order to the market. By Svetlana Letova Straight from the horse’s mouth. 15 Society and economy Russia may be flush with money right now, says Otto Latsis, but this has yet to help the poor. 18 Dances with the bears The Kremlin is beating the oil oligarchs at their own game, says John Helmer. 86 Financial consultants could be shut out of market The Federal Securities Commission is taking aim at conflicts of interests in the consulting world. By Olga Tofina Real estate 20 In the corridors 88 All roads lead to retail It’s do or die time for the Communists, argues Ekaterina Larina. Moscow’s center is already crammed, but retailers say there’s much to be made farther out. By Irina Nemirova 26 Business in the Ring The latest gloves-off deals on the Russian market. 90 Fragmented apartment market in Petersburg Banking 34 Banking on Russia’s future New legislation and the appearance of foreign banks may boost Russian’s low trust in the sector. By Christopher Kenneth Investments The segment has its ups and downs. By Fyodor Rubanov 93 Getting the goods on Moscow The ins and outs of the city’s warehousing market. By Maxim Bukin Hotels and restaurants 37 Climate revs up market Russia’s newfound stability is boosting domestic investors’ confidence. By Christopher Kenneth 38 Cyprus opens up Russian business secrets Under pressure from the EU, the island is changing its policy on transparency. 94 More than just four walls The inside of a hotel is just as important as the outside. Report by Maxim Bukin 97 Moscow discovers the bean Coffeehouse chains are discovering the Russian capital. Report by Maria Popova Oil and gas 100 The hotel market discovers a gold mine 40 Supply versus demand Moscow’s hotels are moving toward a new niche — conference tourism. Report by Ignat Volanaitis Russia wants to export more crude. But can it? 42 Is Russian oil a safe haven? 102–106 Ratings The country’s booming oil giants are seeing interest — and money — come their way. By Yevgeny Kalyukov Life style 46 Caspian contradictions 107 Wealthy Russians living on the edge The politics around Caspian oil are even murkier than its seabed. It’s not just trips to Egypt and Cyprus anymore for the Russian elite. A whole new variety of — controversial — pleasures are to be had. By Christopher Kenneth 48 The impact of the BP-TNK deal What does the groundbreaking merger mean for Russian business in general? Profiles 52 Young Bear with billions 110 A cheesy experience An evening out at Moscow’s cheese-themed restaurant, Syr. By Sasha Kowalski Andrei Klishas, the young CEO of industrial-financial giant Interros, speaks with Christopher Kenneth. 77 Protek rules the pharma market The lowdown on Russia’s leading pharmaceuticals-distribution company and what it thinks is wrong with the market. By Alex Kwiatkowski Metals 60 The 10-year saga of Russian steel The industry suffered a heavy blow after the Soviet collapse, but the story is different now. By John Helmer Mining and minerals 64 Gold miners are no fools There has never been a better time for mining gold in the Russian Federation. By John Helmer Telecoms and IT 68 The great mobile leap forward Moscow’s rich telecoms market is seeing conflict as rival companies duke it out. By Maxim Bukin Transport 71 Foreign cars hit the track Automakers from abroad are eyeing the Russian market and production. By Alex Kwiatkowski M ONTHLY M AGAZINE — OUT NOW RUSSIAN BUSINESS LEADS THE WAY Subscribe Now! ✓YES! I would like to take advantage of this offer and subscribe to The Russia Journal Magazine Name: _____________________________________________________ Company: __________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________ Subs befor cribe e Apr and g il 15 e 10 iss t ues for ju st $99 ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Telephone: _________________________________________________ Fax: _______________________________________________________ E-mail: _____________________________________________________ To subscribe please fax this form +7 095 959-2408 (Russia) +1 202 478-1754 (USA) or e-mail subs@russiajournal.com THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 18 SHOW | Entertainment IN ENGLISH: Dome Theater CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND* 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m. IN RUSSIAN: Pushkinsky ANALYZE THAT 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. TAXI 3 3 p.m. JOHNNY ENGLISH* 7 p.m., 11 p.m. THE HUNTED 9 p.m. America Cinema 35 MM THE HOT CHICK* 6 p.m. MAGDALENE SISTERS 8 p.m. (New British Film festival 2003) THE HOURS* 10 p.m. OASIS (IN KOREAN) 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m. EURO PUDDING (IN FRENCH) 10 p.m., 12:15 a.m. DARKNESS FALLS 1 p.m., 4:50 p.m., 8:45 p.m. ANALYZE THAT 1:25 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 9:10 p.m. Rolan MDM-Kino Khudozhestvenny THE HOURS* 10 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 7 p.m. CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND* 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 8:30 p.m. BOAT TRIP 12:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Karo Film THE HOT CHICK* 11 a.m., 2:50 p.m., 6:45 p.m., 10:35 p.m. BOAT TRIP 11:05 a.m., 3:20 p.m., 7:15 p.m., 11 p.m. THE HUNTED 11:10 a.m., 1:05 p.m., 3 p.m., 4:55 p.m., 6:50 p.m., 8:50 p.m., 10:50 p.m. JOHNNY ENGLISH* 11:20 a.m., 1:20 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 5:10 p.m., 7:10 p.m., 9:10 p.m., 10:55 p.m. BOAT TRIP 9 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:45 a.m. THE RING 9 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 12:45 a.m., 3:30 a.m. CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND* 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:45 p.m., 4:45 p.m., 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m., 11:30 p.m., 1:30 a.m., 3:30 a.m., 4:30 a.m. TAXI 3 9:15 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 4:30 a.m. GANGS OF NEW YORK 9:15 a.m., 1:15 p.m., 7 p.m., 11 p.m., 12:30 a.m. DAREDAVIL 11:15 a.m., 9:15 p.m., 2:15 a.m. THE HOURS* 11:15 a.m., 3:45 p.m., 6 p.m., 8:15 p.m., 10:30 p.m., 2:45 a.m. CHICAGO 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 10:15 p.m. CHIC 5:45 p.m., 3 a.m. SKY, AIRPLANE, GIRL 9 p.m. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS 11:45 p.m. * reviewed below THE HOURS* Noon, 5:30 p.m., 10:45 p.m. JOHNNY ENGLISH* 1 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m., 11:30 p.m. GANGS OF NEW YORK 2:15 p.m., 7:45 p.m. THE HOT CHICK* 7 p.m., 11 p.m. Kinoplex na Leninskom TREASURE PLANET 11 a.m., 3:20 p.m. DAREDAVIL 11:10 a.m., 3:30 p.m., 8 p.m. THE RING 11:30 a.m., 3:40 p.m., 7:50 p.m., 11:50 p.m. CHICAGO 1 p.m., 5:20 p.m., 7:40 p.m., 10 p.m. THE HOURS* 1:15 p.m., 5:35 p.m., 10:10 p.m. GHOST SHIP 1:45 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m. Orbita THE HOURS* 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 7:30 p.m. CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND* 11 a.m., 3:10 p.m., 9:40 p.m. CHICAGO 5:20 p.m., 11:50 p.m. Schedules are subject to change. Please call theater to confirm show times. America Cinema: Tel: 941−8747 Dome Theater: Tel: 931−9873 Karo Film: Tel: 937−2616 Khudozhestvenny: Tel: 291−9625 Kinoplex: Tel: 105−1130 MDM-Kino: Tel: 245−8438 Orbita: Tel: 115−6580 Pushkinsky: Tel: 229−2111 Rolan: Tel: 916−9412 35 mm: Tel: 917−5492 Film: Capsule Reviews THE HOT CHICK The Players: Rob Schneider, Rachel McAdams, Anna Faris, Andrew Keegan, Matthew Lawrence The Play: One day, Jessica (Rachel McAdams), a perky, pretty, popular cheer− leader with a mean streak, acquires a set of Abyssinian earrings with magical powers of which she’s unaware. She loses one of them, and it’s found by a 30−year−old criminal of low prospects (Rob Schneider). Overnight, the earrings cause the two characters to change bodies. So Jessica wakes up in her own bedroom, but in Schneider’s body. And Schneider, as the criminal, wakes up in a young woman’s body. Most of the action focuses on Jessica’s personality, which inhabits Schneider’s body. Girlfriends find this turn of events shocking and amusing, and the girl−in− the−man’s−body keeps dropping her pants and showing her new appendage to them. THE HOURS The Players: Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson The Play: In 1929, Virginia Woolf (Kidman) is starting to write her novel, 'Mrs. Dalloway,' under the care of doctors and family. In 1951, Laura Brown (Moore) is planning for her hus− band's birthday, but is preoccupied with reading Woolf's novel. In 2001, Clarrisa Vaughn (Streep) is planning an award party for her friend, an author dying of AIDS. Taking place over one day, all three stories are interconnected with the novel mentioned before, as one is writing it, one is reading it, and one is living it. CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND The Players: Sam Rockwell, George Clooney, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, Rutger Hauer The Play: ITelevision made him famous, but his biggest hits hap− pened off screen. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is the story of a leg− endary showman's double life − televi− sion producer by day, CIA assassin by night. At the height of his TV career, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said. JOHNNY ENGLISH The Players: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Ben Miller, Douglas McFerran The Play: When the British Secret Service loses all its secret agents in a bomb attack at the funeral of Agent One, the top brass have only one man to turn to save the world: Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson), a low level desk jockey inside the service who has fantasized about being an agent like One. The world needs saving because there seems to be a maniac plotting something sinister − which turns out to be a French billion− aire maniac Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich) plotting to force the Queen's abdication so he can take his rightful place as King of England, and then turn the place into the world's biggest prison (prisons are his business). It's up to Johnny and a truly secret agent (Natalie Imbruglia) to unmask Sauvage for the master crime he is, and save England (and hence the world). Beethoven manuscript may fetch $4.6 million By Jack Garland The Associated Press L ONDON — Beethoven’s final manuscript of the Ninth Symphony, marked with the composer’s revisions and insults to the copyist who produced it, could fetch up to 3 million pounds ($4.6 million) at a sale in London next month, an auctioneer said Tuesday. “This is one of the greatest works ever written by man, and it isn’t likely there will be another complete Beethoven manuscript up for sale ever again; the rest are lost or in libraries,” said Stephen Roe, Sotheby’s head of manuscripts. The owner, described only as a “private foundation,” is planning to set up a charitable fund for musicians with the money, Roe said. The estimate for the May 22 sale may prove to be conservative. A single sheet of Beethoven’s early draft of the opening of the Ninth Symphony sold last year for 1.3 million pounds ($2 million), eight times more than the estimated price. That sheet was in the composer’s hand, but the Ninth Symphony manuscript was made by a copyist. However, almost every one of the 575 pages has notes and revisions scrawled by Beethoven, Roe said in a telephone interview. These range from minor adjustments to the tempo and rhythm of the symphony to entirely new sections pasted over previous work. These hidden pieces of music have never been published. Beethoven was most vitriolic in the final choral passage section of the symphony, extolling freedom AP Today’s cinema highlights LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN pictured in an undated sketch. Beethoven was born in Bonn on Dec. 17, 1770 and died in Vienna on March 26, 1827. The final manuscript of his Ninth Symphony is to be auctioned in London in May. but failed to solve the composer’s financial problems. Beethoven died three years later at the age of 57. The record for a music manuscript is 2.6 million pounds ($4 million) paid for a collection of Mozart symphonies sold at Sotheby’s in 1987, Roe said. and the brotherhood of man. At one point he scribbled, “du verfluchter Kerl!” (“you damned fool!”). The Ninth Symphony was first performed in Vienna in 1824, by which time Beethoven had been deaf for at least eight years. It was met with wild acclaim, PRIMEtime tonight 20:00 BBC PRIME CARTOON NETWORK NTV plus Sports EURO SPORT CNN 20:30 20:10 Clever Creatures 20:35 Get Your Own Back Courage the Cowardly Dog Samurai Jack 19:45 Basketball Review NBA Q&A NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Volcano Week: Volcano Hunters TRAVEL CHANNEL 21:30 Wildlife 20:55 Flintstones 22:00 Ready Steady Cook 21:20 Tom & Jerry 21:45 Looney Tunes 21:15 Tennis Review Press− Children of center ATP Olympus 19:30 Curling News WCH Men Eurosportnews Germany − USA World News Moscow time 21:00 Entrada Oceania Soccer Review This is NBA 22:30 23:00 Droopy Master Detective World News World Business Today Africa On Ice Dogs With Jobs Monkey Business Peking To Paris Don't Forget Your Passport 7 TV Europe Soccer Show 23:40 Basketball Review NBA Boxing: ECH. Super Middle Weight D. Hausslers — G. Catley World News Go 2 Doctors Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) 21:25 Hockey Stanley Cup 1/8 20:45 Soccer: Copa Libertadores Libertad (PAR) — River Plate (ARG) 00:00 Antiques Roadshow 22:15 The Weakest Link Scooby−Doo 23:30 Sports Digest News 7 22:45 220 V World News Q&A The Mummy Road Show Kiwi Buddha Great Drives World News Europe Ready To Go Warren Miller's Global Adventure Basketball: Euroleague ULEB VH1 The Stars of 2003 12:00 On The Top Of The Chart TCM HALLMARK 19:45 Meet Me in Las Vegas. Musical, USA, (1956) 20:15 The Last Musketeer 21:35 Edge of the City. Drama Movie, USA, (1957) Gleason Somebody Up There Likes Me. Drama Movie, USA, (1956) Brooklyn South Schedules subject to change without notice. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. 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Krasnye Vorota, western, modern furniture, built-in kitchen, intercom, fenced territory, guarded. INCOM 363−1004 Smolenskaya: Protochny Lane; room 23 sq.m ; kitchen 9 sq.m; western designer renovation; furnished. $1200. G&G Realty: 995− 9651, 254−2876. Krasnye Vorota, 5 min by foot, Homutovsky per., $ 600, 1 room, 5th floor, 5-floor building, room 21 sq.m., good renovation, suite of furniture, Sony TV, kitchen 10 sq.m.: furniture, fridge. 4 Rent 250−65−75 2 ROOMS Offered Kievskaya, 10 min by foot, Kutuzovsky av., $1000, 2 rooms, 2nd floor, 8-floor Stalin building, euro renovation, white counter floor, suspended ceiling. Rooms: 21 sq.m., bedroom suite, compartment, TV, new furniture; 16sq.m.- empty. Kitchen 10 sq.m. - fitted equipment. Washing machine. 4 Rent 250−65−75 Novokuznetskaya, 10 min by foot, Veshnyakovsky per., $950, 2 rooms, 2nd floor, 9-floor brick building, rooms: 20 sq.m., suite of furniture, TV; 12 sq.m., bedroom suite; kitchen 9 sq.m.: pinewood suite. Lavatory cum bathroom: euro combined, washing machine. 4 Rent 250−65−75 Socol: 66 sq.m; western renovation; unfurnished. $800. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254− 2876. KIEVSKAYA high – tech style studio – apartments, fully furnished and equipped, located in convenient area near Radisson Hotel, with a beautiful view on Moskva – river embankment; GORKY PARK AREA imaging living in a private oasis in a center of the city, this 85 sq.m. apartments located in full service residence right near famous park. 363−08−48 INCOM COMMISSION FREE APARTMENTS AND OFFICES FOR RENT, Short-term FULL-SERVICED APARTMENTS CONFERENCE AND TRAINING FASCILITIES Tel.: 937-60-46 Fax: 937-60-49 www.iris-hotel.ru E-mail: izhem@soft-proekt.ru Residential & Commercial properties Rent & Sale FLAT LINK Commission-free exclusives Hines Tel: 363−4435,505−2957 • E-Mail: flatlink@mtu-net.ru • www.flatlink.ru Tel: 785−0500 Fax: 785−0510 • http://www.hines.msk.ru Valovaya str. • 140 sqm • 2 bedrooms • 2 full bathrooms • Spacious living room with dining and kitchen area • Renovated and secured entrance Intermark 502 9553, www.intermark.ru Crown−Galaxy, Lera. Pevchesky per. • 80 sqm • 2 bedrooms • Air conditioning • Secure parking • Decorated to a high Western standard • Walking distance from Kremlin Intermark 502 9553, www.intermark.ru Riverside location. Modern development. 120 sq.m. Furnished. Equipped. Brite&new. In exclnt cond. Security. No vis-a-vis. Magnificent vus. $3,300 per month. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. Zoologicheskaya Str. 100 sq.m. Tastefully furnished&designed. All equipment. Move-in cond. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. Universitet, 100 sq.m., western, PVC, modern furniture, fully equipped kitchen, Jacuzzi, intercom, concierge, security. Kropotkinskaya, elite building, western, PVC, fully equipped kitchen, modern furniture, intercom, concierge, underground garage, gym, security. INCOM 363−1004. Park Kultury, 140 sq.m., elite building, western, exclusive design, heat floors, modern furniture, kitchen equipment, 3 bathrooms, PVC, cosmos-TV, underground garage, guarded. Chistiye Ponds, elite building, western, 2 phone lines, fully equipped kitchen, modern furniture, 2 bathrooms, Jacuzzi, shower cabin, underground garage, video-intercom. INCOM 363−1004. Paveletzkaya, Bolshaya Pionerskaya. Total area: 90 sq.m, studio: 40, bedrooms: 20, 14, cloakroom:10. European renovation, painted walls, parquet floor, fully equipped, Jacuzzi, IKEA furniture. Clean entrance, no elevator, intercom, brick house, high ceilings. Rent: $2,300 FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru KRUTITSKAYA EMB.: 120 sq.m in a new elite building with underground parking 5 min. drive from Kremlin; fresh western renovation; new furniture; all appliances; climate control system; built-in vacuum cleaner; panoramic view. $3499. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. Offered Daev Lane. Big LR. 2BRs. Totally furnished. All amenities. HDWD flrs. Parking facilities. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. M. Molodezhnaya, Kuntsevskaya ul, 10/17storey building,73 sqm, bathroom, toilet, 2 bedrooms, living-room, renovated, furniture, kitchen equipment, garage on secured terrritory, $1600 a month, tel. 933-27-21/04, Mayakovskaya Area. 160 sq.m. Brand new. Huge LR. 2BRs. 2.5Bas. Unfurnished. All equipment. Modern bldg. 24 HR security. PENNY LANE, 232− 3 ROOMS Pushkinskaya, Trekhprudny pereulok. 6th floor of 8. Total area: 60, rooms: 25, 15, kitchen: 9. Parquet floor and tiles in the kitchen. Bedroom and living room sets, large built-in closets; white built-in kitchen with balcony, the living room has two big windows. Washing machine in the bathroom. Modern spacious apartment. Rent: $2,000FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Mayakovskaya, Sadovaya−Triumfalnaya, 10th floor of 17. Total area: 56,3, rooms: 16+8 loggia, 17 bedroom. Kitchen 8 sq.m., foreign sanitary ware, washing machine, water heater, bidet, shower cabin. European renovation, laminated floor, wall paper, air-conditioner. Clean entrance, intercom, concierge. Rent: $1,500. FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Excellent location in a North− Western suburb of Moscow, 24 km from Red Square and 25 km from Sheremetievo International Airport Eight types of 3, 4 and 5−Bedroom Luxury Townhouses, ranging from 150 to 350 square meters Fully Equipped Kitchen Air−conditioning and Central Heating System Two Car Garage Professional Security 24 hours a day Rosinka Property Management with a Service Team 24 hours a day On−Site Convenience Store Local and International Telephone and Satellite TV Day Care Facility, Pre−School Outdoor Playground for Children Shuttle Bus Service and School Bus to Anglo−American School On−Site Lake with a sandy beach 13,000 square meters On−Site Sports Center includes Real estate department Tel.: 363−0450 www.incom-reality.ru E-mail: elirent_pk@incom-reality.ru M. Barrikadnaya, Kudrinskaya pl (Stalin building), 57 sqm, 4th floor of 8-storey brick building, furnished, rooms: 18,15, bathroom, toilet, kitchen -10 sqm, European standard, furniture, garage, domofon, $ 1500 a month, tel. 933−27−21/04, Crown−Galaxy, Angelika. Full Size Swimming Pool Indoor and Outdoor Tennis Squash & Racquetball Basketball &Volleyball State−of−the−Art Fitness and Bodybuilding Equipment Aerobic and Shaping Classes Professional Coaches Bowling and Billiards Sauna, Bar, Massage, Haircut, Beautician Dry Cleaning, Video Rental Full Size Outdoor Soccer Field Ice skating rink in winter time And Many Many More Tel (095) 730 33 00 Fax (095) 730 32 32 E−mail: info@rosinka.ru www.rosinka.ru THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 20 www.rental.ru REAL Estate DIRECTORY CLASSIFIEDS REAL ESTATE 0099. Kotelnicheskaya Nab. Very attractive location. 90 sq.m. Studio. Partly furnished. Impeccable cond. Parking facilities. Quiet yard. All-city view. $2,300 per month. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. Perfect location! Southwest. Modern bldg. 120 sq.m. Perfect layout. Spacious studio. Designed. All amenities. Walk-in closet. Heated flrs, Internet, Satellite. Two deeded parking lots. Truly mint cond. PENNY LANE 232−0099. residential real estate tel: 787-24-26 e-mail:contact@aventec.ru www.aventec.ru SHORT TERM RENTAL COMMISSION FREE OPTIONS INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE ADVISERS Commercial & Residential real estate activities Tel: +7 095 937-6797 Fax: +7 095 292-4580 artrealty@inbox.ru www.art-realty.ru Green&Green Reality Tel: 995−9651, Fax: 254−2876 moscowrealty@yahoo.com http://www.moscowrealty.org Tel: (095) 730 33 00 Fax: (095) 730 32 32 • E-Mail: info@rosinka.ru • www.rosinka.ru World Trade Center Moscow Tel: 253−1481 Fax: 253−2347 Kuntzevskaya, Pionerskaya, Zveni-gorodskaya Str., 8. Total area: 150, rooms: 22, 20, 45, kitchen: 15, two full bathrooms, marble floor; new European renovation, PVC-windows, painted walls, parquet floor, all appliances, furnished (one room is empty), 1-car parking in the underground garage, fenced yard, video watching, security. Rent: $6,000. FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu− net.ru OKHOTNY RYAD, charming apartments with working fire place in ancient building updated with the best 21st century technology, as soon as you enter the gracious century lobby you’ll be surrounded with rich wood and polished marble and your trip into a past world begins; TSVET− NOY BOULEVARD This full service luxury residence is located in the heart of Moscow with outstanding view, large apartments (150m.) with 3 bedrooms, fully furnished and equipped, guarded with professional armed security; 363− 08−48 INCOM 4 ROOMS Offered Kutuzovskaya, Kutuzovsky prospect, 4th floor of 6. Total area: 100, studio: 20, dining room: 20, bedrooms: 18, 16. Western renovation, fully furnished, Jacuzzi. Intercom, concierge. Rent: $2,000(neg) FLATLINK, 363− 4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru • http://www.wtcmo.ru • E-mail: intof@wtc.msk.ru M. Arbatskaya, Filippovsky lane, elite building,190 sqm, 3 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, livingroom, study, maintainance service, security, underground parking, $12000 a month, tel. 933-27-21/04, Crown−Galaxy, Oksana. SERVICED APARTMENTS M. Belorusskaya, Aleksandra Nevskogo st., 139 sqm, 5th floor of 14-storey brick building, furnished, rooms: 23,20,20,15,bathroom, toilet, security, $ 4500 a month, tel. 933-27-21/04, Crown−Galaxy, Lera. Global Link-R located in the center daily, weekly, monthly rental tel. 729-8493 e-mail: globallink-r@mail.ru www.servicedapartments.ru GlavUpDK Main Administration for Service to the Diplomatic Corps (GlavUpDK) (095) 245 8219/85 75/85 94 E-mail: arenda@updk.msk.ru www.updk.ru Tel.: 748-1111 Fax: 748-1112 6,500 staff operating from 125 offices in 33 countries www.dtz.com E-mail: info@dtz.ru You will enjoy professional management, secure environment, respectable neighbors, numerous amenities, child−care center, sport facilities and more… Kitay Gorod, Taganskaya, skyscraper at Kotelnicheskaya embankment, 115 sq.m. living room: 30, bedrooms: 28, 29, kitchen: 8, new classical Euro renovation, painted walls, oak wooden floor, antique lamps, modern bathroom, French sanitary ware, hand-painted stained glass, air-conditioners in every room, 16th floor, view of all Moscow, unfurnished / can be furnished, expensive kitchen, Siemens appliances, concierge, foreign landlord, rent: $3,800, FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru Poljanka, 100sq.m., western, studio, fully furnished, all built-in kitchen appliances, 2 WCs, fire place, big terrace with barbecue, video observation, concierge; Mayakovskaya, Tverskaya, VIP-building, 160sq.m., western renovation of exclusive design, furnished, 3 WCs, conditioning, Jacuzzi, security, underground garage, it is suggested for rent the first time; VILAR−INCOM, 363−04−50 Apartments, dachas and Offices for Rent & Sale THE MOST IMPRESSIVE RESIDENTAL COMMUNITY offers WESTERN STYLE APARTMENTS at AFFORDABLE PRICES Kropotkinskaya, Sivtsev Vrazhek. Total area: 83, 22 (studio), 18, 16, 14. European renovation, parquet floor, PVC-windows, painted walls, heated floors, Jacuzzi, water-heater, all appliances. Unfurnished. Entryphone, security, parking. Rent: $3,200. FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net. BARRIKADNAYA: Klimashkina Str.; new elite building; fenced yard; security; underground parking; gym; total area 200 sq.m; 2 bathrooms; large winter garden. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. F U R N I S H E D A PA R T M E N T S AVA I L A B L E Management and Leasing: Hines 113/1 LENINSKY PROSPECT, 117198, MOSCOW, RUSSIA TEL.: (7 095) 956−5050 FAX.: (7 095) 956−5920 www.mbtg.ru/ppm Kropotkinskaya, 200sq.m., VIP-building, one apartment is on each floor, western renovation of classical style, 2 WCs, unfurnished/furnished, security, closed yard, underground garage; VILAR−INCOM, 363−04−50 Metro Akademicheskaya, Profsoyuznaya street, 4th floor of 6. Total area: 102, three bedrooms (16, 16, 9), two bathrooms. All appliances. New super European renovation. Modern kitchen-dining (exclusive design) 22 sq.m., fully equipped. Furnished. Intercom, concierge, guarded parking. Rent: 5,500 Euros FLATLINK 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Oktyabrskaya: Spasonalivkovsky Lane; 86 sq.m; fresh renovation; un/furnished. $1,300.G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. SOKOL, this apartment is located in a guarded full service residence, fully furnished and equipped, 2 restrooms with Jacuzzi, air conditioning, and everything also to make your stay in Moscow absolutely comfortable; TWO COUNTRY COTTAGES, Rublevskoe and Pyatnitskoe high ways, located in highly secured cottage compound, near yacht club, fully furnished and equipped, has everything for your maximum comfort and security, like sauna, swimming pool, billiard, working fire place, cable TV, Moscow phone and separated Internet line. 363−08−48 INCOM Serebryany Bor • Close to the Moscow River • 160 sqm • Split level • 4 rooms/ 3 bedrooms • 2 bathrooms • Fully equipped kitchen Intermark 502 9553, www.intermark.ru Chistye Prudy, Mal. Kharitonievsky Lane. Total area: 115 sq.m., rooms: 35 (studio), 19,19, 16, two bathrooms ( sauna, Jacuzzi, shower cabin), heated floors, conditioners, furnished, Satellite TV, intercom, parking. Rent: $4,000.FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Tverskaya Str. Modern bldg. 180 sq.m. Spacious LR. 3Bas. Unfurnished. Brand new. Western renovation. Security. All amenities. Quiet yard. Top flr. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. Ostozhenka. Pre-Rev bldg. 145 sq.m. Spacious LR. 2BRs + den. 2Bas. Unfurnished. Privacy and security. $6,000 per month. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. KROPOTKINSKAYA: Molochny Lane; new building with underground garage, 24-hour security, sauna, gym; total area 160 sq.m; 2 bathrooms; expensive renovation; Spanish furniture. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. Chistye Prudy. Pre-Rev bldg. 115 sq.m. 1,5Bas. Furnished. Just renovated. All amenities. $3,800 per month. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. Mayakovskaya, western renovation, furnished, all built-in kitchen appliances, 2WCs, conditioning, Jacuzzi, security; Chistieye Prudi, 120sq.m., western renovation, furnished, 2 WCs, Jacuzzi, security, concierge; Barrikadnaya; Zoologicheskaya, 150sq.m., new renovation, kitchen furniture, all built-in kitchen appliances, Jacuzzi; Chistieye Prudi, 120sq.m., western renovation, furnished, 2 WCs, Jacuzzi, security, concierge; VILAR− INCOM, 363−04−50 5 ROOMS Offered Krasniye Vorota, Furmanniy Lane, 4th floor of 6. Total area: 130, rooms: 27, 27, 20, 17, built-in kitchen: 14, one full bathroom. European renovation, PVC-windows, painted walls, parquet floor, new doors. Partly furnished (two rooms are empty), can be unfurnished. Boiler, washing machine, dishwasher. Intercom, fenced yard. Rent: $2,500 FLATLINK, 363− 4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Tsvetnoy Blvrd: 1st Samotechny Lane; 160 sq.m; 24-hour security; open kitchen; 1.5 bathrooms; western; un/furnished. $3,299. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. Chistiye Prudy, Mal. Kharitonievsky Lane. Total area is 115 sq.m., 4 rooms: 35(studio), 19, 19, 16. European renovation, two bathrooms (sauna, jacuzzy, shower cabin), heated floors, conditioners, furniture in all rooms, Satellite TV, intercom, parking place. Rent: $ 3,500. FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Romanov Lane. 170 sq.m. 2Bas. Exceptionally renovated. Unfurnished. Hi ceils. Air-cond. 24HR tough security. Top flr. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. Sretensky Blvd. Terrific location! Pre-Rev bldg. 370 sq.m. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 21 www.rental.ru Medical Services CLASSIFIEDS DIRECTORY Adventist Health Center of Moscow •American Dental services by Adventist Health Center •Full spectrum of dental services •Exclusive orthodontics by Dr. Garo’s team Member of American Association of Orthodontists •Reasonable prices 126-7554,126-7906 E-mail: advhlthl@online.ru GLOBAL VOYAGER ASSISTANCE OOO "Puteshestvie-Service" Worldwide medical assistance: medical evacuation and repatriation 24 hour service, 365 days a year. Tel.: 7 (095) 775 09 99 Fax: 7 (095) 775 09 98 E−mail: info@gva.ru Website:www.gva.ru Italian Medical Center BENESSERE Full range of medical services Aids test, RW etc. (at home, at work place) Italian family doctor & house calls All forms of general dentistry, orthodontic, oral surgery, cosmetic procedures etc. We do not treat diseases we treat people! 28/1 Arbat, bldg.1 Tel.: (095) 234-90-26 Fax: (095) 232-94-24 E-mail: cmi@zmail.ru www.italmed.ru American Clinic American Board Certified Physicians 24h emergency ambulance services & house calls ● 24 full range diagnostic procedures in-house (MRI, CT-scan, X-ray, laboratory etc.) ● Insurance direct billing ● ● 31, Grokholsky Per. Tel.: (095) 937 5757 www.klinik.ru 24 hours a day we are devoted to your health Comprehensive Family health center including gynecology, pediatrics, rehabilitation, surgery, ENT, diagnostics, dentistry, Alarm Center and evacuations Only Western medical and dental services in VISA CENTER COMPLETE VISA CENTER WWW.VISAtoRUSSIA.COM 955−41−90/956−44−22 FROM 10.00 TO 20.00 VISAS TO RUSSIA & CIS 945−78−01/−9972/−2536 E−MAIL: almor@aha.ru ESCORT SERVICE THE BEST GUYS AND GIRLS OF MOSCOW! TEL.: 507-97-67 SATELLITE TV 549−55 05 All types of satellite TV services Yspenskoye Schosse, 600sq.m., 4 levels, western, fully furnished, 3 WCs, Sauna, Jacuzzi, billiard, barbecue; VILAR−INCOM, 363−04−50 INTRODUCTIONS SEREBRYANY BOR: Wooden 4-bedroom cottage in a secure compound. Total area 130 sq.m. Un/furnished. Satellite TV. Children’s playground. $4,000. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. PERFECT MASSAGE AND MORE… 795−56−40 KATERINA No commissions! BAKOVKA, 5 km from MKAD west: modern 3-bedroom cottage built to high standards; nice plot of land; secure neighborhood ; sauna; furnished. For rent or sale. G&G Realty: 995−9651, 254−2876. COOL BLACK GIRLS 8-916-393-07-37 Moscow Country Club, 10 minutes drive. Country house on guarded territory for longterm rent. Total area: 240 sq.m., 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and study; colonial design, furnished, collection of rare paintings, fireplace, home movie theatre, Satellite TV, Moscow digital telephone line; guest house with sauna; land plot (lots of trees) of 50 hundred parts developed in oriental style; pond; 24-hour security. To see photos please visit: www.flatlink.ru/home_ar.html Rent: $11,000 per month including full maintenance, FLATLINK, 363−4435, 139−6586 Tretyakovskaya, 70-200 sq.m., western renovation, separate entrance, $ 400/sq.m., 4 parking lots, included. 4 Rent 250−65−75 MISTRESS 999-39-59 BEAUTIES 765-77-18 BEAUTY NATASHA 507-30-93 M.Novoslobodskaya, walking distance, 1500 sq.m., in class À building, offices for lease, 24 hour security, rent: $500/sq.m/year + VAT. FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru SERVICED APARTMENTS Offered COMMISSION FREE, serviced apartments: 1 bedroom across the river from the Kremlin from $50 per night, Tverskaya St. from $60, Deluxe studio - Chistiye Prudy from $70, two bedroom - Kropotkinskaya from $90, two bedroom - Old Arbat: $125, SHORT TERM DAYLY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY RENTAL. For more information please visit: www.flatlink.ru/kvart_short.html or call FLATLINK: 363−4435, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Serviced apartments in center, daily, weekly, from $59 per night, AVENTEC, 787−24−26, www.aventec.ru BUSINESS Lunch Moscow center. Travel & Tourism COTTAGES Offered Tretyakovskaya, 200 sq.m., western fit-out, separate entrance, $ 400/sq.m., 4 parking lots included, 4 Rent, tel. 250−65−75 European Medical Center Konushkovskaya ul., 34 (dental care) Kuntsevskaya, Veresaeva, 200sq.m., western, studio, fully furnished, all kitchen appliances, 2 WCs, Jacuzzi, fire-place, underground garage, security, VIP-building; Arbatskaya, 205sq.m., western, fully furnished, 2,5 WCs; Dolgorykovskaya, 140sq.m., western, 2 telephone lines, partly furnished, all kitchen appliances, video observation; VILAR−INCOM, 363−04−50 OFFICE RENTAL Offered Tel: (095) 933 7700 Fax: (095) 933 7701 Prospect Mira 26/6 (entrance from Grokholski per), 129090 Moscow, Russia e-mail: info@amcenters.com www.amcenters.com Spiridonievsky per, 5, bldg. 1 Okhotny Ryad, Kamergersky pereulok. Total area: 160 sq.m., living rooms: (1st level) - 40 sq.m. with fireplace, (2nd level) -15 sq.m., living room 25, bedrooms: 20, 15, fully equipped kitchen: 15. One full bathroom with Jacuzzi, shower cabin and bidet. New European renovation, ceilings 4,6 m high, large windows, exclusive antique furniture. Marble entrance with pictures on the walls, concierge, video waching. Rent: $6,500 FLATLINK, 363−4435, www.flatlink.ru, flatlink@mtu−net.ru Saint−Petersburg Dubravy. Fabulous cottages. Flexible two-floor layout. Furnished. Garage. Secure private development. Commision free. Ecologically clean. PENNY LANE (095) 232−0099, (812) 326−2626. American Medical Centers OOO"American hospital group" Exquisite design. 4BRs. Unfurnished. Equipped. Hi ceils. 2 WBFPs.Western renovation. 2 tel. lines. Security. PENNY LANE, 232−0099. www.emcmos.ru 933-6655 933-0002 DIRECTORY MEKHANA BANSKO THE ONLY BULGARIAN RESTAURANT IN TOWN. COLORFUL INTERIOR open from 12 a.m. to 11 p.m. 9/1 Smolenskaya square Metro: Smolenskaya tel: 241-3132, 244-7387 Buisness lunch (12.00- 16.00) – 250 rubles Buisness dessert – 50 rubles ITALIAN ORIGINAL CUISINE IN THE BEST TRADITIONS OF MODERN ITALY open from 12 a.m. to 11 p.m. 13 Samotechnaya Metro: Tsvetnoy Bulvar tel: 288-5651, 288-6401 Buisness lunch (12.00- 16.00), special menu from 90 till 250 rubles THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 22 SPORTS Jordan bids apt farewell to Cavs ERNIE ELS The Associated Press Continued from Page 24 confidence to play his own game going forward. “I think if I hadn’t got through that tournament, if I hadn’t won that tournament, I think I would have been a different player right now,” Els said of his win at Muirfield. “But that gave me the confidence and the little bit of the boost that I needed to get to where I want to get to with my career, and we’ll see.” Els has solidly built on that win last July. In 2003 alone he has won four times worldwide, twice on the European Tour and twice on the PGA Tour. He also has two runner-up finishes and the only blemishes on his record this year have been a first-round loss to New Zealand’s Phil Tataurangi at the WGC Accenture World Match Play Championship and a tie for 38th at the Bay Hill Invitational. Els’s finish at Bay Hill came after an injury to his wrist. Els was concerned that the injury would get worse if he kept playing in the same way and he changed his game at Bay Hill to accommodate it. He still has pain, but doctors have given him clearance to play without fear of further injury and he is eager to get going again. “When you see guys play, it gets you ready,” Els said. “You want to come out here and play some good stuff again. “So always if you don’t get yourself up for Augusta, for the Masters you probably never will, so I’ll be ready.” Els comes into the Masters more prepared mentally than ever before. His new approach has been aided by sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout, who has stressed to Els not to worry about Woods and worry more about the course and his own game. And should Woods be there on the back nine come Sunday, then Els will adjust accordingly. Els has had success with the approach, but has had difficulty at times maintaining the focus for 72 holes. “I have got to be more disciplined and maybe play the percentages more,” Els said. “And if you make five on 13, it’s still not the end of the world, you can still make it up coming in. So let’s hope I am disciplined enough to make the right choices.” “I think when it comes on Sunday, hopefully I’ve got a chance, first of all,” Els said. LEVELAND — Michael Jordan bid the Cleveland Cavaliers a final, fitting farewell on Tuesday night. Jordan, who tormented the Cavs perhaps more than any other team during his career, scored 26 points as the Washington Wizards kept their playoff hopes alive with a 10091 win. Jerry Stackhouse added 18 points as the Wizards moved closer to idle Milwaukee for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 23 points and Ricky Davis had 18 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for the Cavs, who dropped to an NBA-worst 15-62. 76ers 91, Pistons 74: In Philadelphia, Allen Iverson, playing despite left knee bursitis, had 37 points and eight assists to lead the Philadelphia 76ers. Kenny Thomas added 16 points and 15 rebounds for Philadelphia, which snapped a two-game losing skid and moved within two games of Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Clifford Robinson had 16 points and Richard Hamilton added 14 for Detroit, which lost its fourth straight game. Heat 89, Raptors 83: In Miami, Brian Grant scored 16 points and added 10 rebounds, and the Miami Heat held the Toronto Raptors scoreless for the final 2:54. The game was tied at 83 with just under three minutes left, but neither team scored again until Anthony Carter’s driving layup gave the Heat a two-point lead with 33 seconds left. Caron Butler scored 12 points, and Rasual Butler added 11 for the Heat, who won for only the second time in their last 10 games. The Raptors dropped their third straight game. Alvin Williams scored 16 points for Toronto, which lost its third straight game. Knicks 99, Hawks 95: In New York, Allan Houston scored 29 points as the New York Knicks kept their slim playoff hopes alive. The Knicks led by as many as 16 points, but had to hold off Atlanta’s late charge to stay in the playoff hunt. New York must win its next four games and Milwaukee must lose its final AP Masters C CLEVELAND CAVALIERS’ Ricky Davis (right) defends against Washington Wizards’ Michael Jordan (23) during the fourth quarter of Washington’s 100-91 win Tuesday. five for the Knicks to qualify. Theo Ratliff grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three shots and Jason Terry scored 27 points for the Hawks, including a pair of free throws with 1:58 left that cut the Knicks’ lead to 91-88. Grizzlies 111, Clippers 108: In Memphis, Tennessee, Pau Gasol scored 25 points, including two free throws with 11 seconds remaining to lead Memphis over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers’ Eric Piatkowski got off the final shot of the game in the final 2 seconds, but it missed and the ball wedged between the basket and the backboard with no time left. Bulls 115, Pacers 103: In Chicago, Jamal Crawford scored 14 of his career-high 33 points in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter as Chicago stunned Indiana. The victory cost the Pacers a chance to pull within a half-game of first-place Detroit in the Central Division. Jermaine O’Neal led the Pacers with 38 points, tying his career high, along with 13 rebounds. It was only the Bulls’ third victory in their last 19 games against Indiana. Trail Blazers 81, Rockets 66: In Houston, Damon Stoudamire scored 21 points for Portland as Houston tied a franchise low by shooting just 29.5 percent in its loss to Portland. The point total was a seasonlow for Houston, which had an awful shooting performance from the field in the third quarter. The Rockets were just 3-for-24 in the period. Suns 98, Nuggets 78: In Denver, Shawn Marion had 27 points and 10 rebounds as Phoenix beat Denver to increase its lead in the race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Kings 107, SuperSonics 85: In Sacramento, California, Chris Webber had 20 points and seven assists, and Peja Stojakovic scored 18 points as Sacramento stayed in the hunt for the Western Conference’s top seed with a win over Seattle. Warriors 128, Jazz 102: In Oakland, California, Gilbert Arenas scored 34 points, making a career-high six 3-pointers as Golden State defeated Utah. The Warriors are still 3 1/2 games behind the Phoenix Suns for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with four games to play. Phoenix beat the Nuggets 98-78 in Denver. Antawn Jamison added 16 points and Troy Murphy had 13 points and 12 rebounds in an impressive offensive night for Golden State, which shot 52.5 percent and outworked Utah. Lakers 108, Mavericks 99: In Los Angeles, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant struggled to put points on the board, but the Lakers still managed to deal Dallas its 25th consecutive loss in Los Angeles. Stalemate: No goals for Ajax or AC Milan Continued from Page 24 early next month. Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko forced Ajax keeper Bogdan Lobont into a fine save with a fierce shot after just five minutes in the clearest opening created throughout the first half. Milan were forced into mak- ing a substitution after 26 minutes when former Ajax player Clarence Seedorf, who was injured in a tackle with Ajax full back Hatem Trabelsi a few minutes earlier, was replaced by Serginho. After Milan suffered that setback, Ajax gained the upper hand for a while and a back pass from Alessandro Costacurta put his own goalkeeper Dida under pressure from the chasing Ajax forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Gennaro Gattuso picked up the first yellow card of the match for hauling down Ajax’s American midfielder John O’Brien which means Gattuso will miss the second leg. Milan dominated for much of the second half but the midfield failed to create much for forwards Filippo Inzaghi and Shevchenko to capitalize on. When Ajax did come forward veteran Milan defender Paolo Maldini and his fellow defenders — especially Alessandro Nesta — thwarted them at every opportunity. THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 23 SPORTS G EORGETOWN, Guyana — West Indies opening batsman Chris Gayle was unhappy at his non-selection Tuesday for the first cricket Test against Australia starting Thursday. The Test starts in Georgetown and Gayle released a statement saying he was “disappointed” he would not be playing. Gayle was omitted after he opted to play in a lucrative twoman international cricket tournament in St. Lucia last weekend, instead of representing Jamaica in a regional final against Barbados. Gayle said he believed his decision was supported by West Indies Cricket Board rules, and that he had “obtained the necessary permission ... and had the blessing of my teammates.” Gayle and former captain Carl Hooper reached the Double Wicket semifinals. In his last West Indies appearance, Gayle scored 100 against Kenya at the World Cup last month. The hard-hitting righthander also played all 14 Tests for the West Indies last year, scoring 916 runs at an average of 41.63. World Cup shakeup L ONDON — Rugby’s showcase event could be in for a major shakeup. The International Rugby Board chooses the host of the 2007 World Cup on Thursday. Only France and England seek the rights, and their bids have been inflamed by traditional crosschannel tensions. France prefers the status quo — 20 teams divided into four pools. The top two in each group would qualify for the quarterfinals in a 48-match tournament. England has gone for a radical change. It wants the leading 16 nations to contest the World Cup, and an eight-team pool to replace the knockout quarterfinal stage. At the same time, 20 emerging countries would compete for a socalled Nations Cup. That would mean 88 games in 45 days. “It is very elitist,” French Rugby president Bernard Lapasset said of England’s bid. “We are not fighting England as such, but their philosophy. And GLOBAL what if we go R O U N D U P down this big, two-tournament route with 36 countries in total? Who can ever expect to be able to host an event of this size again?” —AP Hungry for success D HAKA — South Africa are eager to make amends for their failure at the World Cup at home and are looking to a triangular series in Bangladesh to show their worth, new captain Graeme Smith said on Wednesday. “The guys are hungry for success and are looking forward to showing their guts and potential.” Smith told reporters. South Africa will play their first match on April 13 against India, who face Bangladesh in the tournament’s opening game on Friday. The 22-year-old left-handed batsman replaced Shaun Pollock after the World Cup debacle when hosts South Africa were knocked out in the first round and said the team needed a fresh start. — Reuters AP W. Indies drop Gayle AUSTRALIAN CAPTAIN Steve Waugh bats during a team practice at the Bourda Cricket Ground in Georgetown, Guyana. The Test series against the West Indies begins at Bourda Cricket Ground Thursday. The West Indies have dropped batsman Chris Gayle from their order after he chose to play in the Double Wicket tournament rather than representing Jamaica at the weekend. Soccer: Man Utd slip up to on-form Madrid Continued from Page 24 close range after Iker Casillas had palmed away a Ryan Giggs effort. The Dutchman’s 11th Champions League goal of the campaign, a record for an individual season, gave United a lifeline to take back to Old Trafford in two weeks’ time. Their task will not be made any easier, though, by yellow cards for Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, who will both now be suspended for the return. Alex Ferguson’s side scarcely deserve to still be in the tie after what was a shambolic display. History suggests that whoever emerges triumphant from the tie will go on to win the final at Manchester United’s Old Trafford in May. The two sides have had three previous meetings in Europe’s premier club competition and each time the winner has gone on to lift the trophy — Real Madrid in 1956-57, United in 1967-68 and Real again in 1999-2000. Neither side had the look of champions early on, though, as passes regularly went astray in what was a nervous opening at a simmering Bernabeu, packed to its 75,000 capacity. United did create a couple of chances, Paul Scholes forcing a low save from Iker Casillas with a snap shot and Ruud van Nistelrooy going just over with an overhead kick, but the opening goal robbed them of every sap of confidence. There seemed to be little danger when Figo collected a short pass from Zinedine Zidane on the left in the 12th minute and shuffled a couple of steps infield. The Portuguese midfielder spotted that Fabien Barthez was slightly out of position, however, and sent in a wickedly curling shot that crept in at the far corner past the Frenchman’s outstretched hand. Real should have been awarded a penalty when Wes Brown bundled over Ronaldo in the area on 19 minutes but the home side did not have to wait too much longer for the second. Zidane was again the provider, slipping a pass through to Raul on the edge of the area. The Spanish international forward fooled Rio Ferdinand with a backward feint and turned to drill a shot in at the near post. United had one good chance to reduce the arrears when Van Nistelrooy was set clear for a run on goal, but his shot flashed just wide. Ferguson’s side might have been in even worse trouble had Swedish referee Anders Frisk decided that Barthez deserved a red card for clearly handling outside the box. United were indeed in a deeper mess soon after the restart. Figo, advancing menacingly down the right once again, cut the ball back for Raul to fire a shot through a crowd of defenders and make it 3-0 to Real with his 43rd Champions League goal. United were staring at a humiliating defeat but to their credit they tore forward and were rewarded within three minutes when Van Nistelrooy headed in after Giggs had taken a Neville cross and forced a save from Casillas. Real had several chances to restore their three-goal lead but Roberto Carlos, Raul and Figo all fired wide from good positions as huge gaps appeared in the United defense. For all their efforts at the other end, United could not get another goal back and had to be content with the glimmer of hope left to them by Van Nistelrooy’s goal. SPECIAL OFFER: daily: great table of Russian cuisine and all you can drink for 1000R only! NEW! every Saturday - Russian day: free vodka gentlemen’s club 100 new girls restaurant bar striptease non-stop (4 shows at once) 4 floor parking safe, discreet, friendly 3d Yamskogo polya ul., 15 tel: 363-28-19 open daily from 9 p.m. till 6 a.m. cover 700 rubles the bearer of this coupon will get 50% off the cover THE RUSSIA JOURNAL Thursday, April 10, 2003. PAGE 24 SPORTS MICHAEL JORDAN put an end to the Cleveland Cavs’ 15-62 season Tuesday. — PAGE 22 THE WEST INDIES have dropped batsman Chris Gayle ahead of their Test match against Australia on Thursday. — PAGE 23 Man Utd slips up against Real Reds lose 3-1, giving Madrid strong chance of semi-final berth By Kevin Fylan Reuters Stalemate for Ajax, AC Milan Reuterssdf A M STERDAM — Ajax Amsterdam and AC Milan have battled to a goalless stalemate in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal to CHAMPIONS leave the L E A G U E Italians favorites to reach the last four of the competition. Despite some high quality passing and goal chances for both teams, neither side could find the net but Milan will be the happier with the home leg to come on April 23. The winners of this tie will play either Inter Milan or Valencia in the semi-finals See STALEMATE, Page 22 See SOCCER, Page 23 AP AJAX’S Zlatan battles for the ball on Tuesday. MANCHESTER UNITED'S David Beckham sits on the pitch during his team’s Champions League match against Real Madrid on Tuesday. Els planning to ignore Woods By Alex Miceli Reuters A UGUSTA, Georgia — World number two Ernie Els says he plans to attack the course and not Tiger Woods Temple bar Beer Bar Next door coffee shop Seven kinds of draft beer. Wide selection of home-made deserts A beautiful view from the window on the Red Square and the Unknown Soldier's Tomb. Homey atmosphere and excelent service. Business lunch is $12. A complete British-style breakfast is $6, served from 5 a.m. Credit cards accepted: VISA, EURO, MASTER Hours: 24/7 Manezh Square 1, first level Okhotny Ryad shopping mall (ent. outside from Alexandrovsky Sad), Tel: 737-8476 at the Masters, then look afresh at where he stands heading into the back nine on Sunday. Els is playing in his 10th Masters starting on Thursday and has finished in the top 10 for the last three years, including a solo second in 2000. Aside from Woods, of all active players on the PGA Tour playing in this week’s Masters, only South African Els has won more than two majors — the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1997, and last year’s British Open. Yet Els believes his approach to playing majors has been flawed. Only after his win at the British Open did he believe he had the game to beat the world’s top player Woods and gain the See MASTERS Page 22 AP AP M ADRID — Luis Figo curled in a spectacular opener and Raul struck two virtuoso goals to help Real Madrid to a 3-1 win over Manchester United in a sparkling Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Bernabeu. Real, who the CHAMPIONS won European L E A G U E Cup for a record ninth time in Glasgow last season, outclassed their opponents on a night United will quickly want to forget. The Spaniards, superior throughout, will be strong favorites to book a semi-final place against Juventus or Barcelona, but they may yet have cause to regret a 52nd minute reply from Ruud van Nistelrooy. Van Nistelrooy, United’s sole attacking threat, headed in from DEFENDING CHAMPION Tiger Woods watches his shot from the 3rd tee at the Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, during practice for the 2003 Masters. IMPORTERS & EXPORTERS Western Owned and Managed! 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