| In St. Petersburg, holidays, new scandals and redistribution of property are expected from 2003 Without exaggeration, we can say that the coming year will be an era of great upheaval for St. Petersburg. Over the next 12 months, the city on the Neva will have to experience an anniversary, a gathering of presidents and VIPs from all over the world, a voluntary-forced rotation of political leaders and large-scale revelations initiated by law enforcement agencies.
The central event of the year is the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, which will be celebrated at the end of May. The main gift for the city's birthday will be received by the world's most famous St. Petersburg resident, Vladimir Putin. In the St. Petersburg suburb of Strelna, restorers are now hastily decorating the interiors of the Konstantinovsky Palace, which will become a “maritime” presidential residence and a center for holding summits and international congresses. The head of state will arrive here on a yacht, the presidents of other countries will also get to Strelna from St. Petersburg and back by water, along the Neva and the Gulf of Finland. True, many art historians fear that during the reconstruction the unique appearance of the 18th-century architectural monument will be sacrificed to political expediency and the requirements of security services and protocol.
To prepare the city for the 300th anniversary in 2002-2003. about 20 billion rubles have been allocated. It was assumed that these funds would be used to restore and repair roads, palaces, theaters, museums and historical mansions in the city center. However, St. Petersburg residents are now cursing those whose heads came up with the idea of total restoration, because of which any movement around the city has become torture. The pre-anniversary fever turned the streets and squares of St. Petersburg into “obstacle courses.” The scaffolding currently hiding the front facades will, of course, be removed for the holiday, during which the Russia-EU summit will be held in St. Petersburg and the leaders of dozens of states will visit. However, as soon as the musicians of the ceremonial orchestras cover their instruments, the scaffolding will return to its place - it has already been officially announced that the restoration, for example, of the Kazan Cathedral, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Summer Garden, and the Admiralty will continue into the fourth century of St. Petersburg's existence.
At the end of last year, the Prosecutor General’s Office already announced that several tens of millions of dollars were allegedly stolen from the “anniversary money”. One criminal case in this regard was opened in December. Law enforcement agencies have repeatedly made it clear that a series of new ones should be expected this year - too much money fell into the hands of officials and builders not to doubt that it was all spent.
This year may be the last year of Governor Vladimir Yakovlev's reign. The new composition of the Legislative Assembly (LA), elected in December 2002, must answer the question - whether or not there will be a third gubernatorial term for the current mayor. If the parliamentarians say a categorical “no” (four months ago this was the verdict handed down by the St. Petersburg statutory court), then a loud and scandalous competition of political strategists will begin in the city. Despite the fact that the gubernatorial elections themselves will take place only in the spring of 2004, a variety of leaders are already being predicted for this post - from the former head of BALTONEXIMBANK, and now a deputy of the Legislative Assembly, Yuri Rydnik, to Irina Khakamada and Gennady Seleznev.
The coming year will determine at least three main contenders for the main city seat - from the bloc of Union of Right Forces, Yabloko and United Russia formed in the city during the elections, from the left and from supporters of Smolny. However, the positions of the latter can be seriously undermined by “pre-anniversary” criminal cases. There is every reason to believe that in the midst of elections, the investigation will become interested in many of the city's top officials - at least, criminal cases have already been initiated against four vice-governors over the past year and a half. And the dress rehearsal for the gubernatorial elections will be the election of a new chairman of the Legislative Assembly. It took the previous composition of the city parliament a year and a half to do this. It will be difficult for the people's representatives to reach a compromise on the issue of speaker - in the Legislative Assembly there are approximately the same number of both supporters of Vladimir Yakovlev and his opponents.
Business circles expect that in the coming year the struggle for property will break out with renewed vigor in St. Petersburg, since many attractive and highly profitable enterprises have not yet entered the orbit of large financial industrial groups. First of all, this concerns transport infrastructure, the food industry, banking services and the oil products trade sector. Large national players have already begun to come to these markets in St. Petersburg - such as MDM Bank, Planet Management, Wimm-Bill-Dann and a number of others. Victor MATVEEV, St. Petersburg |
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