Ten most important and memorable events – RIA Novosti

1. Constitutional court moves to St. Petersburg

Russia’s constitutional court with its 19 judges moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg in May 2008.

2. Fleet command moves to St. Petersburg

A final decision to move the Russian Fleet Command from Moscow to St. Petersburg was taken this year. The Fleet Command will start moving to the Admiralty building in the city’s centre in 2009.

3. Commodity Exchange opened in St. Petersburg

An international Commodity Exchange opened in St. Petersburg this year. Among the founders are major Russian oil companies like Transneft and Rosneft, large trading and transport companies and major Russian banks. The first transaction with oil products was done by Gazprom and Gazenergoset.

4. Two car factories in St. Petersburg

General Motors (GM) opened a 300 million USD factory in St. Petersburg in 2008, a year after Toyota Motor Corp. did the same. GM produces two models at the factory in St. Petersburg - Chevrolet Captiva and Opel Antara.

5. “Zenit” – victories and defeats

St. Petersburg football team “Zenit” won the UEFA Cup in May and the UEFA Super Cup in August. The team had a tough time in Champions League and became number three in their group.

6. Death of a Soviet intelligence legend

The legendary Soviet intelligence agent Nikolay Kuznetsov died at age 87 in Novgorod Oblast in September. He was granted the title “Hero of the Soviet Union” and was Russia’s only full Cavalier of the Order of Glory. In 2007, all his medals and awards were stolen. They were returned to him the same year after a private investigation done by a team of Moscow journalists.

7. Murmansk: two disasters in December

In Murmansk, the end of the year was marked by two tragedies – the killing of Kandalaksha mayor Nina Varlamova on December 16, and the mine explosion outside Kirovsk on December 11, where 12 workers were killed. Varlamova’s killer has been arrested, but the cause of the mining accident has not yet been established.

8. Komi blogger judged for dislike of police

This year was marked by several criminal cases against Russian web loggers. One that caused a great stir was the case against Savva Terentyev from Syktyvkar, who in June was sentenced to one year of prison for “sparking social discord” after writing hateful comments about the police in his blog.

9. Megaprojects in oil and gas transportation

This year Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the construction of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS) from Unecha in Bryansk Oblast to Ust-Luga in Leningrad Oblast. BPS will make it possible for Russia to deliver oil to EU without having to use the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus. In December the construction of a pipeline from Gazprom’s Bovanenkovo gas field in the Yamal Peninsula to Ukhta in Komi started.

10. Lawsuits towards ex-mayor of Arkhangelsk

The scandals around the ex-mayor of Arkhangelsk city, Aleksandr Donskoy, continued for the second year. In March 2008 Donskoy was sentenced to three years of prison for abuse of office, after being found guilty in taking 4 million RUB from the mayor’s office to use on bodyguards for himself and his family. In an earlier lawsuit, Donskoy was judged to pay a 70 000 RUB fine for presenting a fake diploma and conducting business while in position as mayor.