Thursday, February 5: Today's expectations

For the first time after the election, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev arrives in Moscow today (this is not his first foreign voyage in a new quality - before that was France). During the visit, meetings with the President and Prime Minister of Russia, the heads of the chambers of the Federal Assembly, ministers, regions, representatives of the business, as well as students and teachers of MGIMO, where Aliyev Jr. once studied and taught. The main topics of negotiations at the highest level: the general line of Azerbaijan under the new president (the ratio between the Euro-Atlantic orientation and the desire to maintain friendly relations with Russia), the Karabakh problem (expectation from Russia to resolve the issue, the unwillingness of Russia to put pressure on the sides of the conflict, the unwillingness of sharp steps from any side), military and military-technical cooperation between the two countries (Russia would prefer Strengthening, Azerbaijan - reducing conversations on this topic while maintaining concern with cooperation with Russia with Armenia), transportation of Azerbaijani oil (Russia would like preference to be given to Russian routes). An anti -terrorism struggle (local and global) can also be mentioned.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov returns from short-term vacation in order to hold a government meeting on the livestock issue of the transfer of Russian enterprises to international financial reporting standards tomorrow.

Today, the Diet of Latvia must adopt in the third reading the law on education, according to which from September 1, 2004, training in high school of Russian secondary schools will be mainly (60%) in the Latvian language. A protest rally will take place at the Sejm building, in which thousands of schoolchildren who are not consistent with a similar decision will take part. The Russian State Duma yesterday turned to the Latvian parliament with a request to “consider the issue of the formation of the younger generation of the Russian -language population of the country as part of the democratic process.” Observers do not exclude that the consideration of this issue against the background of complex processes in the ruling coalition can lead to a political crisis and the fall of the government.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain Jack Stri comes to Kazakhstan on a working visit. Meetings are expected with the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and the head of the foreign policy department Kasymzhomart Tokayev. The visit is dedicated to the opening of the representative office of the Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the new capital of Kazakhstan - Astana. It can be expected that, despite the numerous friendly statements and assurances, concern will be expressed by plans for the nomination of the current president for the next period, as well as the persecution of the political opposition (representatives of the democratic choice of Kazakhstan).

The “AGO group” of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, is engaged in monitoring the fulfillment of Armenia's obligations to CE, today will begin a visit to Armenia as part of a trip to the region of the South Caucasus. Representatives of the Ago Group will meet with the leadership of Armenia. The subject of discussion will be issues related to the fulfillment of the obligations taken upon joining the Council of Europe (obligations for three years (since 2001): to ratify 10 European international documents related to human rights, as well as adopt 11 laws aimed at strengthening available guarantees for the protection of human rights).

The Meshchansky court of Moscow will be sentenced to the former head of the company "Yukos-Moscow" Vasily Shakhnovsky, accused of tax evasion and forgery. The state prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin asked the court to be sentenced to Shakhnovsky in the form of imprisonment for a period of 1 year 6 months with serving a sentence in a colony-settlement. There is no doubt about the favor of the philistine justice for the wishes of the prosecutor's office - although it was not possible to present any real evidence of guilt during the hearing.

The court of the Washington suburbs Alexandria (Virginia) will decide today in the case of the former Russian banker Alexander Konanyin. During the court session, the final version of the agreement of the former Russian banker with the US authorities, which allowed him to live in the territory of this country, will probably be presented - before a decision on the provision of political asylum. The conclusion of the agreement will let the final line under the attempt imperceptibly, promptly, without involving the court to deport the ex-banker to Russia.

St. Petersburg State University (St. Petersburg State University) by laying flowers on the grave of Peter I in the Peter and Paul Cathedral will begin the celebration of its 280th anniversary.

And the Jews of the whole world today celebrate the Bi Swat - the New Year of the trees. This day serves as a kind of border between different crops. During the existence of the temple, it was precisely in that bi Swed that it was customary to separate the tithe from the fruits. On this day, it was also customary to plant trees. This tradition is still supported.