March 18, Friday: Putin in Paris

Vladimir Putin flies to Paris today to participate in the first Russian-Franco-German-Spanish meeting at the highest level

. As presidential assistant Sergei Prikhodko told reporters, the summit is based on a triple format for the interaction of Russia, Germany and France. He noted that the idea to connect to joint work Spain belongs to Jacques Shirak. According to a high -ranking diplomatic source, "the French plan to expand the format is obvious - they realize the idea of ​​creating a" solid core "in the EU, since after the expansion of the European Union some views of traditionally leading EU countries began to promote much more difficult." "The French consider the four an informal club of friends of Russia, and believe that the new format will allow you to become a factor in the rapprochement of Russia and the EU and will contribute to the creation of four spaces," the source said. Sergei Prikhodko, for his part, noted that "the fact that this time Vladimir Putin, Jacques Shirak and Gerhard Schreder will be joined by the Chairman of the Board of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Sapatero, clearly testifies to the effectiveness and growing attractiveness of the informal dialogue of Russia with its closest European partners." “This interaction is not block of nature and is not directed against any countries or organizations,” the president’s assistant emphasized. According to him, the dialogue of the four countries is based on the general for Russia, France, Germany and Spain, the commitment to multilateral principles and mechanisms to resolve international issues, a general attitude to create a new system of international relations on the support of the international law and central role of the UN.

Within the framework of the same visit, Putin will be the first head of a foreign state to visit the military-air operational center near Paris

. According to sources in the Elysee Palace, visiting this classified facility is included in the program of the head of the Russian state by personal instructions of France President Jacques Shirak, who thus decided to demonstrate response after Putin at the invitation of Putin to visit a similar center in Krasnoznamensk near Moscow. In addition, Shirak, who, as you know, is a great connoisseur and connoisseur of Russian literature, especially classics, initiated another event: on Friday, in the middle of the day, in the Champs Elysees of the President of France and Russia, they will meet with Russian writers participating in the work of the Parisian salon. Russia is on this anniversary 25th salon an honorary and professional guest, its exposition occupies a central place. But, since the dense schedule of official events does not allow Shirak and Putin to visit the cabin, the French side decided to organize a meeting with Russian writers in the Champs Elysees. In addition to these events, a business lunch is also included in the bilateral program, during which the presidents of Russia and France will be able to, as it is supposed to discuss topical issues of strengthening and expanding ties between our countries in various fields. According to diplomatic sources, in this conversation the emphasis can be made on economic problems, including such as cooperation in the creation of a average hydroelectric aircraft, launching the Renault plant in Moscow and reducing customs duties for the supply of units and components for this enterprise, the participation of French investors in the development of the Russian fuel and energy complex, and accelerating the certification of Russian aircraft in the European Union. In the afternoon, four-sided negotiations of Vladimir Putin, Jacques Shirak, Gerhard Schroeder and Prime Minister of Spain Jose Jose Luis Sapatero will take place in the Eliseis Palace. The meeting of the "four", first organized in a similar format, will take place without a clearly defined agenda and does not provide for the signing of any documents. According to diplomatic sources, the main topics of discussions can be the issues of the formation of four joint spaces of Russia and the EU, as well as such urgent international and regional problems as the situation in Iraq and the Middle East and the tasks of strengthening the non -proliferation of nuclear weapons, in the context of which the issue of Iran and DPRK programs can be considered. After the meeting, the leaders of the four countries plan to hold a joint press conference, and then continue the discussion at a business dinner.

The State Duma will consider on Friday March 18 in the first reading amendments to the pension legislation

In connection with a change in the procedure and deadlines for the selection by the insured persons of the management company or non -state pension fund. In accordance with the document, the term for informing the insured person about the state of the special part of his individual account and investment results is postponed from July 1 to October 1, and the deadline for submitting an insured person on the choice of the management company - from October 1 to December 31. In addition, in accordance with the bill, the sending of applications for the selection of an investment portfolio will be terminated citizens of the forms of investment portfolio. Now citizens will be able to receive such forms in the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation and in its territorial departments.

Also , State Duma deputies will consider amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on administrative offenses, strengthening liability for illegal activities to employ Russians abroad . This decision was made on the eve of the Council of the Chamber. Parliamentarians will consider the government bill, which involves amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, increasing the amount of fines for the illegal employment of Russians abroad. In particular, the document proposes to increase the “size of an administrative fine for the implementation of activities for the employment of Russians abroad without licenses or in violation of the conditions stipulated by the license, setting a fine for citizens from 20 to 25 minimum wages instead of a fine of 5 to 10 minimum wages”. For officials, the fine will be from 30 to 40 minimum wages, for legal entities - from 300 to 400 minimum wages instead of existing sizes from 10 to 20 and from 100 to 200 minimum wages, respectively. In addition, the materials noted that the purpose of the bill is to protect the rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens who use the services of intermediary organizations for employment abroad, as well as the prevention of unlimited activity and the prevention of the commission of these offenses. The relevant State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Construction recommended that the chamber accept the specified document in the first reading.

A meeting of the Council of Foreign Affairs of the CIS member states will be held on Friday in Minsk

. According to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at the meeting of ministers the results of preparing proposals for the CIS reform reforms will be summed up. Within the framework of the reform, it is supposed to “free the Council of Heads of States from petty issues and transfer the solution to these issues to a lower level of relevant authorities,” Lavrov said. In addition, it is supposed to abandon unclaimed and ineffective bodies within the CIS. The meeting will also discuss preparations for the informal CIS summit, which will be held on May 8 in Moscow. According to the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Alexander Yakovenko, the subject of discussion at the meeting will also be issues of combating terrorism and the formation of a single humanitarian space. "The task of the formation of a single (general) humanitarian space is put forward to the foreground in the multilateral agenda. The Russian delegation plans to distribute the draft relevant declaration," Yakovenko said. Touching upon the problems of the fight against terrorism, he noted that the Russian Federation introduces a draft decision on the concept of cooperation between the CIS member states in this area. At the same time, ministers will consider the issue of the draft decision on the program of such cooperation for 2005-2007. “This issue seems to be of great importance for the national security of the CIS countries,” Yakovenko emphasized. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, the CIS foreign ministers will also discuss the draft decision on the cooperation program in countering illegal migration for 2006-2008, the draft cooperation agreement in the fight against tax crimes and the draft decision on the concept of military cooperation until 2010. The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CIS was created by a decision of the Council of Heads of State of September 24, 1993 to coordinate foreign policy activities.

In Moscow on Friday, the 8th session of the Russian-Finnish intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation will be held

The chairmanship of the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Russia Herman Gref and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Development of Finland Paula Lechtomyaki. According to the press service of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Trade, the sessions will consider the most pressing issues of trade and economic cooperation, including issues of energy, transport, cooperation in the customs sector and the forest sector. In addition, ministers will discuss issues of repaying Soviet debt and cooperation in the field of high -tech technologies. "Our goal is to find specific means for the development of cooperation between our countries," Lechtomyaki said. During the visit to Russia, on March 17-18, Lechtomyaki also plans to get acquainted with the activities of a number of trading houses in Moscow. "The session of the intergovernmental commission makes it possible to consider key issues of trade and economic cooperation," Lechtomyaki said, emphasizing that "Russia's significance in the foreign trade of Finland is growing rapidly." According to the Russian trade in Finland, "according to the preliminary results of 2004, Russia took second place in Finnish imports (about 13%) and third place in export (9%) among trading partners. The volume of Russian -Finnish trade in 2004, according to preliminary data, increased by 22%and amounted to about 9.6 billion euros (in 2003 - 7.8 billion The euro). Oil and oil products, natural gas, wood make up 89% of Russian exports. Russia for Finland is a monopoly supplier of natural gas, by almost 70% Russia satisfies the needs of Finland for raw oil, a third in stone coal, 20% in timber and 10% in electricity. In imports from Finland, 78% falls on finished goods: machines and equipment, electronics, electrical engineering, and products of the chemical and forest output industry. According to the Russian Office in Finland Valery Shlyamin, "a significant contribution to the increase in the export of Russian machines and equipment to Finland and diversification of bilateral trade are the supply of Russian high -tech equipment and services carried out to repay the debt of the former USSR Finland." Finland is gradually approaching the number of large foreign investors into the Russian economy. The accumulated volume of Finnish investments as of the end of 2004 amounted to about one billion dollars with an emphasis on such Russian industries as telecommunications, a timber industry, metallurgy, construction and food industry. Work is underway on large joint projects in the field of energy cooperation, ecology and transport. The joint work on the organization of high-speed passenger railway communication between Helsinki and St. Petersburg, the arrangement of the Russian-Finnish border continues.

On Friday, in the exhibition center in the south of the French capital, the anniversary 25th Parisian Book Salon will open

. For the first time, Russia will become an honorary and professional guest of the salon, which, according to its organizers, is intended for both professionals and the general public and annually collects about 180 thousand visitors. The Russian exposition, decorated in the form of a birch grove according to the sketches of the famous theater artist Pavel Kalevich, will take a central place on the salon. About 80 Russian publishers will present their products. In addition, a large writer’s landing from Russia has already landed in Paris, which includes fifty prose writers, poets, literary critics. Among those who will represent their works to the French public, participate in literary debate and "round tables", such famous authors as Vasily Aksenov, Victor Erofeev, Svetlana Aleksievich, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Evgeny Grishkovets, Alexander Marinina and others. At the same time, as the organizers of the salon noted, young Russian authors, who were not only marked by criticism, but also managed to gain fame from the reading public, were invited to Paris. As part of the Russian exposition, seven thematic exhibitions will be organized, including France in Russian Editions, Book Illustration and France Book Treasures from Russian Archives. In addition, visitors to the Russian stand will be able to get acquainted with the anthologies of modern Russian prose and poetry, which are specially released to the Parisian salon. As part of the vast cultural program prepared for the cabin, film screenings, competitions for knowledge of the Russian language and literature and other cognitive events will also be held. The “Russian theme” will also be reflected at the stand of the owners of the cabin: 14 French publishers will present more than a dozen books of Russian authors who have published in France recently. Among these writers are Boris Akunin, Andrei Bitov, Victor Pelevin, Dmitry Prigov and others. In addition, the organizers of the salon promise to represent the book novelties of French authors dedicated to the "Russian theme", including many works of a biographical and historical nature.

The State Russian Museum will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the founding

. According to the press service of the museum, from March 18 to 23, the timing will take part in the XXV International Book Salon in Paris, which will be held under the motto "Spring in Russian" this year. Within its framework, the "Day of the Russian Museum" will be held, where new albums of the museum and the best editions of recent years will be presented. In addition, there will be a solemn reception regarding the 110th anniversary of the museum, to which representatives of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in France, cultural and art figures of the Russian Federation and France are invited. In the program of the celebration of his anniversary, the famous St. Petersburg Museum included the opening of the exhibition "Thank you, Perm!" At the end of April in Perm, as well as two information and educational centers. "During the Great Patriotic War, Perm was evacuated by many exhibits of the Russian Museum. The exhibition will become a kind of tribute to the memory of the military years," the press service noted. On May 18, on the International Museum Day, the Museum employees will take place in the timing, where the anniversaries will be honored - veterans who have worked in the museum of 30, 40 and 50 years. The presentation of commemorative signs, letters, diplomas and letters of thanks will be held, a festive concert will be held. At the end of May, the Russian Museum in Moscow will open in the Russian capital. Within their framework, the State Historical Museum will host the exhibition "The Peasant World in Russian Art", where more than 400 works will be represented. A concert will be held on Red Square, in which the best folk groups from cities where the information and educational centers "Virtual Branch of the Russian Museum": Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Samara, Petrozavodsk, Kaliningrad, Murmansk and Perm work will take part. Within the framework of the “Days”, “round tables” will be held, lectures of the museum employees, meetings of the members of the International Society “Friends of the Russian Museum” will be held, and the Lomonosov Moscow State University will open the information and educational center “Virtual Branch of the Russian Museum”. The name of the highest decree on the establishment of the "Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III" was signed by Emperor Nicholas II on April 25, 1895. Currently, the collection of the State Russian Museum has about 400 thousand exhibits and represents all the historical periods and trends in the development of Russian art, all its schools, types and genres in a thousand years - from the 10th century to the present day. In 1992, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the State Russian Museum was assigned to particularly valuable objects of cultural heritage of Russia.

The first quarterfinal matches starts on Friday the playoffs of the Russian Hockey Championship - the decisive stage of the season in Super League

. The central series of the 1/4 finals should be recognized as the confrontation of the Magnitogorsk Metallurg (3rd place according to the results of "regularly") and the Omsk "avant-garde" (6)-finalists of the 2004 playoffs. Then the "hawks", having lost the first two fights, managed to equalize the score. The decisive meeting took place in Magnitogorsk and brought the first “gold” in the history of the Vanguard, which turned out to be more successful when breaking through the bullets. Matches of the 1/4 finals (series up to three victories) will be 18, 19, 21 and, if necessary, March 22 and 24.