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The Moscow Times Moscow Guide – Winter 2008

Since the middle of autumn one of the most important topics of discussion, could only be … no, not the financial crisis… New Year! The winter issue of The Moscow Times Moscow Guide is entirely devoted to New Years celebrations. Seven great ideas for celebrating the “Night of Nights” will help readers finalise their plans and choose how and where to party, give fresh ideas and lots of practical advice.

And don’t forget – problems will come by themselves, but happiness and luck need an invitation. That why the more cheerful and light-hearted your celebration of the coming holiday is, the happier and more successful 2009 will be for you.

The Crisis: Signs of a Kremlin Fearful Of Unrest
Sociologist Yevgeny Gontmakher has painted a disturbing picture of what might emerge from the financial crisis, forecasting continued unemployment, huge protests and spreading violence.

Market Matters: Huge Grain Harvest No Boon for Farmers
This year Russia is enjoying the biggest grain harvest it has ever seen -- and farmers couldn't be more worried.



Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Updated at 31 December 2008 22:36 Moscow Time.

The Moscow Times » Issue 4001 » News

David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

Observers from the European Union monitoring mission visiting the Georgian village of Mukhrani on Wednesday.

EU Monitors Start Patrols in Georgia

02 October 2008By Matt Siegel / The Associated PressGORI, Georgia -- European Union monitors began patrolling Georgian territory Wednesday under a French-brokered peace deal, and Russian troops allowed some monitors into a buffer zone around South Ossetia despite insisting earlier that they would be blocked.

A Russian peacekeeping statement Tuesday saying monitors would not be allowed on Georgian territory around the separatist region of South Ossetia had raised concern that Moscow was stalling on a withdrawal of its troops, which was promised after its August war with Georgia.

But when EU observers arrived Wednesday at Russian checkpoints near the Georgian villages of Karaleti and Kvenatkotsa, at the perimeter of Russia's so-called "security zone" on Georgian territory, Russians quickly let them move into the area.

The Russian soldiers did not allow reporters to follow the observers into the buffer zone near Kvenatkotsa but let Georgian civilians pass after examining their vehicles.

"The situation is very calm," Ivan Kukushkin, a Russian officer in charge of the checkpoint said with a smile.

EU mission head Hansjoerg Haber told reporters that the Russian military told the EU monitors not to enter the buffer zone, citing security concerns.

"We received different signals," Haber told reporters. "We want to clarify these differences in the coming hours."

Another group of EU monitors visited the village of Odisi in a different sector just outside South Ossetia.

Russia and Georgia agreed to the EU observer mission as part of an updated cease-fire plan following the war, which ended with Russian and separatist forces in control of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and occupying other territory in Georgia.

As part of the deal, Moscow agreed to withdraw its forces completely from areas outside of South Ossetia and Abkhazia within 10 days of the EU monitors' deployment Wednesday -- including from a roughly 7-kilometer buffer zone they have created southward from South Ossetia.

"The Russians gave us plans for dismantling their [check]points but didn't say when," Haber told reporters.

At the Russian checkpoint near the Georgian village of Kvenatkotsa, an armored personnel carrier was parked on a hill near camouflaged tents, and there was no sign of any preparations for a Russian troop pullback.

Russia still plans to keep around 7,600 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and has refused to allow EU monitors inside the regions themselves.

"Show the flag, be friendly, show confidence," Haber told monitors in Basaleti, about 20 kilometers north of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.