* INNOVATIONS THAT REALLY WORK!

Key Business Challenges in Technology, Marketing and Communications and The Best Innovative Solutions 2008-2010 presented By Business Leaders and Practitioners. Join us at the BRAND LEADERS SUMMIT Swissotel Krasnye Holmy on June 8-9 for two days of intense conversation with these master innovators.

* The photo-exhibition and auction "Hope Zone"

The Charitable Fund «Hope Zone» and the Center of modern art are inviting you on photo-exhibition and charitable auction. All money fr om sale of prizes will go on the address help to children with the lim ited possibilities. The exhibition be held on April 28.

* News

 Medvedev Discusses Arctic Drilling, Telecoms With Norway

By Alex Anishyuk

The two countries have been in talks for about 30 years on divvying up the Barents Sea territory, which is located on the oil- and gas-rich Arctic shelf.

 Proposed Bill Could Increase FSB’s Power

By Alexander Bratersky

A bill submitted to the State Duma on Saturday is apparently aimed at lending more legitimacy to the FSB’s informal ways of work, but additional documentation suggested that it could also be used by law enforcement to target media reporting unfavorably about the state’s actions.

 Senator Pugyachov on British Rich List

By Nikolaus von Twickel

Federation Council senator and Kremlin-connected banker Sergei Pugachyov has made it onto Britain’s top rich list, reflecting speculation that he is planning to live with classy television author and travel writer Countess Alexandra Tolstoy.

 U.S. Senator Implicates Top Brass in Magnitsky’s Death

By Natalya Krainova

A letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lists officials from the Russian Interior Ministry, Federal Security Service, Federal Tax Service, Arbitration Courts, Prosecutor General’s Office and Federal Prison Service as being implicated in the Hermitage Capital lawyer’s death last year.

 Opposition Leader Calls for Inquest into Online Sex Videos

The Moscow Times

Ilya Yashin, a leader of the Solidarity opposition movement, sent requests Monday to three law enforcement agencies, calling on them to investigate the origin of compromising Internet videos targeting opposition politicians and journalists.

 Gas Explosion in Northern Moscow Kills One

The Moscow Times

Compressed air in a gas pipe exploded Monday during repair work in northern Moscow, killing one person and injuring at least two others, officials said.

 Kyrgyz Ex-Interior Minister Extradited by Russia

Combined Reports

Officials in Kyrgyzstan’s interim government said Russia’s Federal Security Service detained the ousted former Kyrgyz interior minister, Moldomusa Kongantiyev, and sent him overnight to Bishkek.

 Presidents: U.S., Russia Should Recall World War II Cooperation

Reuters

"The atmosphere of mutual trust and shared commitment to victory ... is especially called for today when Russia and the United States are building a partnership for the sake of a stable and prosperous world," said a statement published by the Kremlin.

 Investigator Detained for $900,000 in Bribes

The Moscow Times

In exchange for a bribe offered in a sting operation, the senior police investigator promised the wife of a jailed businessman facing money laundering charges to get him released from custody.

 Butyrka Jailbreak Lands Officials in Hot Water

The Moscow Times

Two Moscow prison officials have been suspended pending an investigation into how a suspected pedophile managed to escape from the Butyrka pretrial detention facility by breaking a metal grate on his cell’s window, Interfax reported Monday.

 Another ’Cherkizon’ Busted in Moscow

The Moscow Times

A major smuggling scheme on par with the former Cherkizovsky Market has been uncovered in Moscow, investigators said Monday, saying a storehouse near the VDNKh metro station used to store low-quality textiles and make counterfeit labels.

 First-Ever Jury Trial for Chechnya

By Alexandra Odynova

"Despite claims that it is impossible to find people who are unbiased and not related to the defendants, we succeeded," presiding judge German Alexandrov said, Gazeta.ru reported.

* Other brief news

 Tsar’s Death Marathon

 Perm Pilot Probe Reopened

 Bout-Related Case Dropped

 Kadyrov Link to Killing

* Business

 France’s EDF to Own 20% Stake in South Stream

By Anatoly Medetsky

French power company EDF will take a 20 percent stake in the South Stream gas pipeline, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday, with the deal to be signed in June.

 Cheated Homebuyers Create a Social Network

By Irina Filatova

Odnodolshiki.ru is the first social network for so-called "cheated homebuyers," allowing those who have invested into apartment buildings that have not yet materialized to receive advice and discuss ways of solving their problems.

 Demolished Rechnik Neighborhood to Be ’Rehabilitated’

The Moscow Times

The "ecological rehabilitation" of the area, where homes had been razed by Moscow authorities in January, would include removing rubbish left by "illegally built real estate," planting new trees and closing off the area from motor transport.

 Ukraine Plans $1.3B Eurobond

Reuters

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov’s government also foresaw drawing on $2 billion of credit from an International Monetary Fund program and $500 million from the World Bank during the year, the figures showed.

 BPT Arista Embarks On Kitchen Furniture Chain

Vedomosti

Expo Retail, a partner in the venture, said a store would open this summer and that the companies have invested $1.5 million to $2 million in its opening.

 Markets See Biggest Gain in 2 Weeks

Bloomberg

Stocks rose as commodities advanced and two banks recommended the country’s equities, saying shares will rally further.

 VEB, Sberbank to Lend 29.2 Billion Rubles for Road Project

The Moscow Times

Vneshekonombank and Sberbank will provide 29.2 billion rubles ($1 billion) to a French-led consortium to fund a 43-kilometer segment of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll road, the two state banks announced Monday.

* Other brief business news

 Russian Technologies’ Sale

 GM, Sberbank Settle

 Hungary Ends Surgut Probe

 Russia-Japan Grain Deal

 Sistema’s Price for Russneft

 For the Record

* Opinion

 North Korea’s Nuclear Affair With Iran

By Yuriko Koike

North Korea’s Kim Jong Il hopes to find a customer for his country’s nuclear technologies in the Middle East’s most radical regime.

 Stability at All Costs

By Alexei Pankin

The state polling agency said 72 percent of Russians prefer stability to full-scale democracy, but events in a corporate-dominated Urals town suggest some cracks in the facade.

 Russia Gets Duped Again

By Alexander Golts

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has laid a political and economic trap with a deal to give Russia a Black Sea base lease extension in exchange for gas discounts.

* Arts & Ideas

Garage Exhibit Shows Later Rothko Works

By Alisa Ballard

American abstract painter Mark Rothko is getting his first exhibit in Moscow at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, in a show that reveals the artist’s melancholy and spirituality.

Read The Moscow Times