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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 3790 » Crime Watch

City Police

A man holding the 25-kilogram rock Pashkova was selling for $20 million.

Woman Charged in Rock Fraud

21 November 2007By Carl Schreck / Staff WriterAn elderly woman has been arrested and charged with fraud after she tried to sell a large corundum stone for $20 million, passing it off as a giant hunk of ruby crystal, police said Tuesday.

City police officers on Saturday arrested Valentina Pashkova, 68, in a bank on Tverskaya Ulitsa after she tried to sell the stone to an undercover police officer, city police spokeswoman Yulia Ivanova said.

Pashkova, who lives on Palekhskaya Ulitsa in southeast Moscow, had been looking for several years for a buyer for the 25-kilogram stone, which she claimed was actually worth almost $300 million, Ivanova said.

According to police, Pashkovo placed the stone in a safety deposit box in the bank two years ago and began looking for a buyer. To this end, she employed an acquaintance --Stanislav Soleiko, 56 -- as a middleman, promising him $100,000 if he could arrange a deal to sell it for $20 million, police said.

Several weeks ago police were tipped off about the rock and set up a sting operation, said Tatyana Korolyova, another city police spokeswoman. Pashkova showed the undercover cop posing as a buyer a falsified certificate stating the stone was ruby crystal worth $270 million, Korolyova said.

Pashkova was arrested after removing the stone from the safety deposit box, Korolyova said. Both Pashkovo and Soleiko have been charged with fraud and could face up to three years in prison if convicted. Pashkova claims the stone's previous owner deceived her into believing the inflated value of the stone, which is currently being examined by gemologists to determine its true value, Ivanova said.

Pashkova claims she purchased the stone five years for $5 million, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported Tuesday.

The ruby, which belongs to the corundum group of minerals, is one of earth's rarest and most valuable gemstones.

Experts on investment in precious gems commonly warn potential investors of scams involving the sale of gems for below-market prices.