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Rat falls on Moscow cafe patron

THE MOSCOW TIMES 1

A customer at a popular Moscow cafe on Nizhnyaya Radishchevskaya Ulitsa had a rat fall on his head from a hatch in the ceiling in February.

The cafe management refused to compensate him for moral and physical damage, but the businessman, identified only as Dedyura, won more than 100,000 rubles ($3,000) in compensation in court, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported. The rat bit and scratched the businessman, and he had to go to the hospital for stitches and rabies and tetanus shots.

Dedyura demanded 500,000 rubles in compensation, but the cafe management ignored his claims and even the court summons. The court also issued the cafe a fine of 53,450 rubles. The Federal Consumer Protection Service issued a warrant to close the cafe after an investigation.

A woman survived

THE MOSCOW TIMES 2

A woman survived being struck by the propeller of an Antonov An-24 aircraft with severe injuries at the Krasnoyarsk airport Thursday.

The incident occurred Thursday morning as the plane’s engines were started for a flight to Kodinsk, a representative of the West Siberian Transportation Prosecutor’s Office told RIA-Novosti.

Despite a warning from a technician, the woman did not move away from the plane, and she remained unnoticed by the pilot, who started the engines, representative Natalya Krinitskaya told the news agency.

The woman, employed at the airport as an aircraft cleaner, was hit by the blades and hospitalized with injuries to her head, chest and arms. There were only four crew members on the plane at the time of the incident, with no passengers on board.

Transportation prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident.

Baby Girl Born on Aeroflot Flight

THE MOSCOW TIMES 3

At least four Russian airliners made emergency landings in the past 48 hours – three after experiencing technical problems and the fourth when a woman unexpectedly gave birth to a baby daughter. No one was injured in any of the incidents. A female passenger unexpectedly went into labor through an Aeroflot flight from Simferopol, Ukraine, to Moscow on Monday night, the airline said. The passenger gave birth to a girl at 9 p.m. with the assistance of four flight attendants and a fellow passenger, Sofia Kovalyova who is a nurse, it said.

The A321 jet made an emergency landing at the airport in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and the mother and newborn were taken off by ambulance to the hospital. «Aeroflot thanks Sofia Kovalyova and the crew of Flight SU1825 for their support and assistance in the childbirth, and wishes good health to the newborn girl and her mother,» the airline said in a statement. The last time a baby was born on an Aeroflot flight was on Sept. 14, 2005, when a Russian mother gave birth to a boy on a Boeing 767 flying from Moscow to Los Angeles, the airline said.

Sled Dogs Earn Their Keep Giving Rides in City Parks

THE MOSCOW TIMES 4

A resourceful dog owner is making a business out of giving dog sled rides in Moscow parks. Alexander Voronin owns 11 dogs. He began raising huskies five years ago, and for the last two years he has been making money on dog sled rides. «I’m not doing this for the money, but to keep the dogs in healthy physical condition,» Voronin told The Moscow Times.

Anyone can come to Sokolniki Park or to Gorky Park and get a ride on a sled powered by his canines. Rides are offered on weekends from noon until 7:00 p.m. The schedule for the weekdays changes, depending on the number of park visitors. The charge for rides, which are regulated by the park, is 250 rubles ($8) per child and 400 rubles per adult for 200-meter rides in Sokolniki. At Gorky Park the rates are 150 rubles and 300 rubles, respectively.

One dog can pull a child, while adults sometimes need two. If a customer yearns for the true feeling of speeding across the tundra, four or five dogs can be yoked. The dog sleds can reach speeds of up to 20 kilometers per hour. Voronin says he spends 4,400 rubles per month to feed his dogs. «Of course, I have business rivals, but nobody is doing dog sled rides for children. They prefer offering VIP sled rides for events and clubs,» he said

Moscow’s wage gaps leave West behind

THE MOSCOW TIMES 5

Bosses in large Moscow companies earn 65 times the income their lowest-paid employees do, a report released by Adecco Group Russia has revealed, a gap the researchers said was nearly double that found in similar European and American companies.

The Moscow wage gap was not only notable in comparison to other European companies, but also to other Russian cities. The difference with St. Petersburg and with Yekaterinburg was also considerable – with the former the gap was 30 times, while with Yekaterinburg it was only 17 times. Executives’ pay packets also differ significantly between the surveyed cities

The lowest monthly wages earned in the large firms surveyed in the three cities varied little —16,000 rubles in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and 13,000 rubles in Yekaterinburg. On the other hand, general directors’ wages varied greatly, with Moscow’s top dogs earning more than 1 million rubles a month, St. Petersburg’s receiving 500,000 rubles and Yekaterinburg’s top managers taking home 250,000 rubles.

Russian Prisoner Escapes in Hijacked Chopper

THE MOSCOW TIMES 6

A murderer escaped from a Russian penal colony aboard a hijacked helicopter but was captured a few hours later. Law enforcement officials say the drama began Thursday morning when two people commandeered the helicopter owned by a private company and ordered its crew to fly to the high security prison in Sheksna near Vologda, 300 kilometers north of Moscow. Interior Ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin said the helicopter had been rented by an associate of prisoner, Alexei Shestakov, RIA-Novosti reported.

«It has been established that in March the convict called this person and asked him to organize a top delegation helicopter visit. He did not understand exactly what was meant but went ahead and rented the helicopter,» Gribakin said. «At the scheduled time today, the helicopter’s crew landed it at the designated place, taking on board a man and a woman. After the aircraft took off, they drew guns and forced the pilot to hover above the penal colony and throw out a rope. The convict used the rope to climb onboard,» he said. The craft flew away, then landed, and the prisoner and the hijackers scattered. Gribakin told Russian news agencies that Shestakov, who had served 12 years of a 24-year sentence, then hijacked a taxi, but it was stopped at a police roadblock. Gribakin says the escaped convict was wounded while resisting arrest, but did not elaborate. The helicopter hijackers remain at large.

Rogozin Says Population Goal Should Be 500 Million

THE MOSCOW TIMES 7

Federal authorities have for years been pushing measures to encourage population growth, in an attempt to reverse the country’s demographic downturn. But Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin set the bar a whole lot higher Thursday, saying the country’s goal should be a population of 500 million – more than triple its current size.   «140 million people – that’s [too] little. The solution is either to complain that we have those Chinese people, or not to point to our neighbor but to have children. Without children Russia will not have a population of 500 million, which we absolutely need,» Rogozin said in a speech to university students in Novosibirsk, RIA-Novosti reported. Rogozin called for measures that authorities have advocated before, including cash incentives to promote large families and assistance to families in securing housing. He also suggested creating new population centers across the country, including one that would help to develop eastern Russia.

«Incentives need to be created for developing the eastern part of the country. First, we have all the necessary resources for this, and secondly, the human ’gulf stream’ washing people away from these regions needs to be stopped,» Rogozin said.

Presidential aide’s car caught using bus lane

THE MOSCOW TIMES 8

The shiny BMW of Presidential Aide Arkady Dvorkovich has been caught misbehaving on the roads which led to a collision with a Mercedes in Moscow.

The one of the most prominent figures in President Dmitry Medvedev’s staff admitted his car was driving along a bus lane and is ready to pay the fine. «After the road accident a ticket was issued for a traffic rules violation, which is to be paid,» Dvorkovich wrote in his Twitter. Dvorkovich came out of the accident safe and sound, as well as passengers in the Mercedes, Gazeta.ru reported. The only the two cars suffered in the accident.

Moscow’s road police said the accident happened on Wednesday morning, at 8:45 am on Pyatnitskoye Shosse when Dvorkovich’s vehicle was heading towards the city center with its flashing lights engaged.

«The Mercedes, which was moving in the same direction, was trying to turn left and hit the car,» Gazeta.ru quoted road police’s spokesman as saying. Dvorkovich, however, said nothing about who is going to pay the fine – he himself or his driver. A representative of the Presidential Administration told Gazeta.ru that all penalties are to be paid by the people behind the wheel.

Krymsk officials arrested over deadly flooding

THE MOSCOW TIMES 9

Three senior officials in southern Russia’s Krymsk district have been arrested in a probe into the mishandling of a flood that killed 171 people earlier this month, the Investigative Committee said on Sunday.

The three arrested were Krymsk Mayor Vladimir Ulyanovsky, the former head of the district Vasily Krutko, who resigned after the flood, and acting head of the public department for the prevention of emergency situations, Viktor Zhanov. Ulanovsky was admitted to hospital shortly after his arrest, Interfax reported on Sunday without mentioning why.

The worst flooding in the region in decades was caused by heavy rainfall on the night of July 6—7. Investigators said the suspects failed to deliver a timely warning and evacuate people from the area. The total death toll in the Krymsk district was 153 people, according to the Committee’s statement. The maximal penalty the suspects face if charges are brought against them is seven years of prison with possible deprivation of the right to hold specific posts.

The fourth suspect, Irina Ryabchenko, head of the Nizhnebakinskaya settlement, which was also affected by the disaster, narrowly escaped arrest. Unlike the others she seems to be the only one who enjoys sympathy from locals. «She was affected by the flooding herself, local residents say.