I. On February 27 Suit Was Filed in the Supreme Court to Have Government Documents Concerning the Construction of the Moscow-St. Petersburg High Speed Railway Declared Void

350 citizens from several regions of the country and more than 30 organizations filed the suit to have two Presidential decrees and two governmental resolutions concerning the construction and financing of the Moscow-St. Petersburg high speed railway declared void. They included the All-Russian Nature Preservation Society, the Valdaiskii national park, the Russian Green Party, the Union for the Preservation of the Birds of Russia, the Socio-Ecological Union, the Women's Environmental Assembly, the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University, the Environmental Politics Center of Russia, and many others. One of the plaintiffs is Tamara Zlotnikova, the chairperson of the environment committee of the State Duma. This time, however, she is acting as a private citizen of the Russian Federation because her official position would not help her in the struggle against this project.

"Ecojuris" initiated this unusual legal action. Its staff will represent society's interests in the judicial process. In their opinion, filing this suit is an unprecedented, mass attempt by the citizens of Russia to defend their rights in the Supreme Court. Further developments will be reported in future editions of ASI.

Telephone: 921-5174

II. In 1997 Non-Governmental Organizations in St. Petersburg Will Receive More Than One Million Dollars from the City Budget

On December 25, information was published on the use of that portion of the reserve fund of the city budget that is distributed by the deputies of the Legislative Assembly. The reserve fund amounts to three percent of the total city budget. Of this three percent, one percent is distributed by the Governor, and the 49 deputies of the Legislative Assembly distribute two percent. Thus, each of them can dispose of an imposing sum equal to approximately $800,000 (US).

The deputies direct a significant portion of these resources toward social needs (repair of schools, guaranteeing social security, support of medical institutions, and the acquisition of medications for socially vulnerable portions of the population). It is a remarkable fact that $1,128,000 from the reserve fund will be given to social organizations. Nongovernmental organizations dating back to the Soviet period received the greatest sums (the All-Russian Society of the Deaf, the Russian Children's Fund, and others).

The telephone number of the press center of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg is (812) 314-9360.

III. Work Has Begun on a New Master Plan for St. Petersburg

Since November, 1996, an office for the development of a St. Petersburg Master Plan has been working at the International Socio-Economic Research Center.

It was noted at a city-wide conference, in which representatives of the St. Petersburg administration, of the government of Leningradskii oblast, deputies from the city's Legislative Assembly and the State Duma as well as representatives of business, scientific, and social organizations took part, that the master plan will permit governmental, commercial, and social institutions, through their common efforts, to create a single plan for the development of the city and to receive a $330,000,000 loan from the World Bank for the reconstruction of the center of the city.

Residents of the city will participate in the development of the plan. In early March special questionnaires will be published in the city newspapers.

Telephone: (812) 316-6246, 311-5454.

IV. An Affiliate of the Moscow Center "Compassion" Is Created in Ekaterinburg

Eduard Kraiukhin, the director of the Moscow center "Compassion" went to Ekaterinburg for discussions on organizing work on a program of medical and sanitarium assistance to aged victims of the Gulag.

The idea of developing such a program in Sverdlovsk oblast did not arise by coincidence. In the Urals, and in Ekaterinburg in particular, there are a large number of victims of repression. They include many sick and isolated people, for whom the state social security departments cannot provide the necessary help due to a lack of resources. Therefore, the Ekaterinburg society "Memorial" together with the leadership of the World War II [Great Patriotic War] veterans' hospital proposed developing a program of providing these people with supplemental assistance.

The proposal is to open an affiliate of the Moscow center "Compassion" and to model its work on that done in the capital. In particular, the creation of a group of medical specialists to assist solitary veterans by offering necessary medical consultation, and a group of visiting nurses to provide basic home help to the sick people is planned. It is anticipated that all of the center's work will be coordinated through a dispatcher.

Agreement in principle to carry out the project has already been reached. In the first stage the residents of Ekaterinburg will be helped by workers from the capital's Compassion center. Similar affiliates are planned for the future in Perm, Tomsk, and other cities with the participation of local human rights and charitable organizations.

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