Notebook

In Brief

Intourist goes upmarket

LOS ANGELES — Management  representatives  of Moscow’s Intourist hotel have held talks here with an international hotel chain (believed to be Marriot Corp.) on renovation. The 21-story Soviet-style Intourist, centrally located just off Red Square, has a  reputation for seediness. Yet it has also long held the attention of the US chain. The Intourist has lost ground in recent  years as other major  hotels like the Metropol and National benefited  from Western-style  renovations. A Marriot representative confirmed the chain’s involvement  in ‘a Moscow project’ and said the head of the company’s operations in Russia, Nick Ward, was participating  in the L.A. talks.

Ronald comes to Peter

ST. PETERSBURG — One of Europe’s last bastions has fallen to the world’s largest burger chain. McDonald’s first St. Petersburg branch has opened, not in the center but in the city’s northern Petrogradsky district. Celebrations included a naval band and 18th century coach carrying Ronald McDonald and 20 disadvantaged children. 100mn rubles ($20,000) were donated to charity. The new restaurant’s first guests included survivors of the World War II Leningrad blockade.

Secondhand manuscripts

YAROSLAVL — Sixty historic 18th century manuscripts have been returned to Russia from Great Britain by a Cambridge University professor. Slavic historian Franklin Symon purchased the manuscripts in secondhand bookstores around the country for his own research. Their subject matter was the Rostov-Yaroslavl Orthodox Church diocese, so Symon decided to donate them to the Yaroslavl Historical and Architectural Museum.

Burial for pets

ST. PETERSBURG — Authorities in the Krasnogvardeisky District have agreed to provide land for the city’s first pet cemetery. Initiated by Dutch joint venture pet food company Torgovy Dom Gollandia and the St. Petersburg Charity Ecological Foundation, the project should ease problems of illegal animal burial in the city’s parks. The cost of the cemetery, which is to cover 5 hectares, has been estimated at 15 mn rubles (under $3,000). According to a Torgovy Dom Gollandia representative, fees will depend on ability to pay, allowing single pensioners to bury animal companions as easily as businessmen. Cremation will be also be offered.