Putin Does an About-Face on Baikal

President Vladimir Putin abruptly shifted course Wednesday when he called for rerouting the proposed Far East oil pipeline away from Lake Baikal.

His remarks stunned Semyon Vainshtok, the president of pipeline monopoly Transneft, who had just made the case for the safety of the planned route, which was to come within 800 meters of the lake.

Environmentalists, equally stunned, were elated.