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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.



Thursday, January 08, 2009 Updated at 31 December 2008 22:36 Moscow Time.

The Moscow Times » Issue 3841 » Crime Watch

Cop Accused of Stealing Boy Statue

13 February 2008By Carl Schreck / Staff WriterIn the latest in a series of statue thefts, an Interior Ministry official was detained over the weekend on suspicion of stealing a bronze statue of a boy playing a flute from a Belgian restaurant in southwest Moscow.

The police lieutenant — a senior official in the Interior Ministry department that provides security for ministry property — was detained Saturday after security guards at the Jan Primus restaurant saw him take the statue from the lobby, Interfax reported, citing the restaurant's management.

Police and Jan Primus staff were tight-lipped Tuesday about the incident at the restaurant, located on Ulitsa Miklukho-Maklaya, near the Belyayevo metro station.

Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing restaurant employees, reported that the unidentified police lieutenant had dined with three friends until late in the evening. Shortly before paying the bill, he took the bronze statue, put it into the trunk of a Toyota Camry parked nearby, and returned to the table, the report said.

The statue was made to order for the restaurant in Thailand and was worth around 10,000 rubles ($400), Moskovsky Komsomolets reported.

The diners were preparing to leave when the guards alerted the manager, who watched surveillance footage from the lobby and called the police, Noviye Izvestia reported.

The officer denied taking the statue, but the police took him to a nearby precinct and opened a criminal investigation, Noviye Izvestia said.

If charged and convicted of theft, he could face up to two years in prison.

Police spokeswoman Marina Molokova would neither confirm nor deny the incident Tuesday, saying only, "No comment."

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry department responsible for security on ministry territory said he could not immediately comment. A request for comment faxed to the department's head, Vladimir Shlemin, went unanswered.

A man who answered the phone at Jan Primus and identified himself as Denis said his manager had forbidden employees from discussing the incident. He identified the manager only by his first name and patronymic — Sergei Alexandrovich — and declined to give the manager's last name.

A woman who answered the phone at Jan Primus and identified herself as Yekaterina also said Sergei Alexandrovich was the only person authorized to comment.

Requests left with the employees Monday and Tuesday for the manager for comment went unanswered.

At least two other statue thefts have occurred in Moscow over the past three weeks. Unknown thieves stole a 200-kilogram bronze block of cheese from the arms of the giant statue A Fox and A Crow in northern Moscow and an alabaster bust of ballet dancer Rudolf Nuriyev in central Moscow. Both the cheese and the bust were later found.