Our forecasts came true: in the house on the Petrovskaya embankment (where in St. Petersburg there is the residence of the envoy in the north-west) the owner changes. Viktor Cherkesov, abandoned in Moscow “on drugs” (he headed the newly created State Committee for Monitoring the Illegal Turning of National and Psychotropic drugs) replaced the “social deputy prime minister” by Valentina Matvienko.

The arrival of Valentina Matvienko to the post of northwestern presidential envoy is a rare case of predictions coming true: in recent days, reports that Valentina Ivanovna will replace Viktor Cherkesov have been repeated with enviable regularity. It is possible, of course, that we are talking about a vulgar “leak” that happened when Vladimir Putin could no longer change his decision. But a much more significant question is why the president decided this way.

It's no secret that a third of St. Petersburg's wastewater flows into the Baltic without any treatment. About 700 thousand cubic meters are produced per day, and a quarter of a billion “cubes” per year. The Danes, for example, claim that St. Petersburg dirt is found even along the embankments of Copenhagen. I won’t hide that it’s unpleasant to hear such a statement - it’s still a shame for the state... But let’s not nurse our own inferiority complex. As it turns out, the West is not without sin.

From March 4 to 12, the NICE festival “New Cinema of Italy” was held at the House of Cinema, which turned out to be an unexpected discovery for film gourmets. Try to quickly remember a couple of new Italian films. Oscar-winning “Life is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni and “Madena” by Giuseppe Tornatore - that’s probably the whole list. Unless some of the next “Vicious Relationships”, inspired by Tinto Brass, will complement it. The casket opens simply.

Novaya's columnist Boris Vishnevsky talks about why the dictatorship doesn't know how to deal with crises medical workers have died in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (*according to the “Memory List”) During the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, more than two dozen Nobel laureates will gather on the banks of the Neva. Many of them had never been to the northern capital or to Russia before.

On March 9, the world-famous French singer Mireille Mathieu gave her only concert at the St. Petersburg Ice Palace. After the concert at the Ostrov club, which is located in the mansion of Karl Bryullov on the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment, a festive reception awaited her, at which representatives of the St. Petersburg and Moscow elite gathered, having received special invitations in gilded frames.