Notebook

Chapel to be built

The St. George the Victor Chapel will be built on Moscow’s outer ring road to commemorate the city’s 850th anniversary.  The project will be financed by Artiko Ltd., which will handle the construction costs. The Russian diocese of the Armenian apostolic church is slated to be the spiritual guardian of the chapel.

Windfall for restoration

The restoration of the Alexander Palace in St. Petersburg has been boosted by a financial grant from American Express for $100,000. The complete restoration of the palace is expected to take up to five years and cost an estimated $7.6 mn. The most important benefit of the restoration will, of course, be seen in the tourist industry and the cost is therefore viewed not as a luxury but as a necessity. The palace is located on a 900 acre plot of land in the Tsarskoye Selo National Park and has the distinction of being the only museum in St. Petersburg which supports itself financially without any grants from the government.

AvtoVAZ seeks investment

AvtoVAZ plans to seek massive foreign investment by selling off shares of stock, in an attempt to halt bankruptcy proceedings. This new stock issue will be sold to investors in one of two ways; either offered in full to a strategic investor or sold to portfolio investors. The Russian government suggested starting bankruptcy proceedings against AvtoVAZ in order both to collect tax revenues (AvtoVAZ owes over $2 bn) and to win new shares of a multi-billion dollar loan from the IMF. The issue of the shares will probably take place in 3-4 months and revenues from the sales will be used to cover some of AvtoVAZ’s debts.

Bulgakov Squatters

The company AOZT Bolshaya Sadovaya 10 was forced to withdraw from a building they planned to renovate when faced with a squad of protestors. The building was made famous by the writer Mikhail Bulgakov in his novel The Master and Margarita and is now host to a motley crew of underground artists and musicians. The stairway leading to Bulgakov’s former apartment has become a shrine to the city’s subculture covered with wall drawings and graffiti.  In 1996 ‘The Hippie University’ held lectures here to encourage the younger generation to continue their counter-cultural traditions. Russian ac ???????