The society created on the eve of the “reunification” council has already split into two parts. One proposes to boycott the cathedral, for there are fears that it will be held in an atmosphere of unfreedom.

Deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor Oleg Mitvol is ready to act as a witness in the case of Boris Berezovsky, whom the Prosecutor General's Office accuses of attempting to violently seize power in Russia. According to Vedomosti, he has already told FSB officers the details of a conversation that took place in 2001, during which a Russian businessman named the person who would replace Vladimir Putin as president.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on Friday that the US State Department's new human rights report "is replete with distortions of facts and is an example of outright double standards." The State Department, in particular, recorded attacks on media freedom, political pressure on the courts, and persecution of non-governmental organizations. The Russian Foreign Ministry hastened to declare that such reports only “stimulate Russophobic tendencies in American society.”

Roman Abramovich's fortune, according to Forbes, is estimated at $18.2 billion, an increase of $4.9 billion compared to last year. In total, the new Forbes list included 793 people whose fortunes are estimated at at least one billion dollars, among them 33 Russians - 7 more than in 2005. This time, the prestigious list was left by the former head of YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose fortune today is estimated at approximately $500 million.

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade assumes that in the summer of 2006 tariffs for services of natural monopolies will be adjusted. At the same time, the tariffs of such monopolies as Gazprom, RAO UES of Russia and OAO Russian Railways will be increased, and prices for communication services, on the contrary, will be lowered.

The dean's office went on the offensive after a complaint from the father of one of the girls, who did not like his daughter's hobby. Nina Fedotova (her father is the pastor of the EHMS church) was accused of “luring” fellow students, taking advantage of her position as the head of the group. Why did she even tell them about her faith and invite them to visit?

Public opinion regarding the strange seizures of Chechen girls in the Shelkovsky district is completely divided: official medicine, represented by the leaders of the notorious Institute named after. Serbsky (the same one where dissidents were treated for madness) is sure that the girls are hysterical, and human rights activists are sure that they were poisoned. The malicious poisoning of young Chechen girls is about to become a liberal creed and another bloody crime of the Putin regime.

The head of the government of Chechnya suspended some heads of a number of departments of the republic from work “for inappropriate performance of their duties.” In particular, the heads of all regional housing and communal services in Grozny were fired. Kadyrov took such measures after he became familiar with the progress of construction and restoration work in the capital.

The conference will be broadcast in the Arab world, and 50 representatives of Muslim and Danish youth are invited to attend. The debate will feature renowned Islamic preacher Amr Khaled, thinker Tariq Ramandan and scholar Habib Ali Jiffray - and three Danish experts, including a bishop and oriental scholars. Arab participants will be able to explain in detail why the cartoons deeply offended the religious feelings of Muslims.

The access of foreign investors to strategic sectors of the Russian economy is going to be limited. A bill on this topic will be submitted to the government on March 9 by two ministries - the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Industry and Energy. In principle, there is nothing reprehensible in the fact that the state wants to legislatively regulate the participation of foreign investors in certain sectors of the Russian economy.

Until recently, the unbalance of the current Russian government mirror the situation in the presidential administration. Moreover, it is obvious that traditional approaches for determining the types and subspecies of the closest associates of Vladimir Putin in this case do not work at all.

Olga Menesheva, who was beaten by police officers in 1999, won her case against Russia in Strasbourg. The court ruled that the Russian authorities committed gross violations against the woman by failing to ensure the right to a fair investigation, and ordered the Russian government to pay compensation in the amount of 35,150 euros. But you can’t really count on the execution of the verdict.

The State Duma in the first reading adopted a bill abolishing arrest as a punishment. Arrest, which is considered a non-custodial punishment, is often much more severe than imprisonment. There are no prison houses in Russia, and their construction and maintenance will cost the state approximately 75 million rubles.

The consular department of the Russian Embassy in Georgia has resumed issuing visas to members of official delegations, employees of Russian companies, persons traveling to Russia through cultural, scientific, technical, sports ties, as well as citizens with private invitations. On February 21, 2006, the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi stopped issuing visas for Georgian citizens. This measure was caused by Georgia's actions against Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia.