Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting with representatives of the processing industry in the Kremlin, said that Russia's image in the West could be improved by "changing the structure of the Russian economy, civilizing our business, strengthening democracy." According to him, purposeful work should be carried out to create a favorable image of Russia, but "this is not the main thing." "No matter how you dress up a wolf, he will not become a grandmother," the president said.

The Basmanny Intermunicipal Court of the capital on Wednesday refused to consider the complaint of the lawyers of the head of one of the departments of the YUKOS security service, Alexei Pichugin, against the actions of the head of the investigative team of the Prosecutor General's Office, Yuri Burtovoy.

In Chechnya, three employees of the republican police were detained for committing a robbery as part of a criminal group. According to Interfax, cited by Gazeta.ru, a source in the Chechen Interior Ministry, it was established that on June 19 this year, three detainees as part of an organized criminal group attacked the Bakaev family in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny. On this fact, a criminal case was initiated under article 162 part 2 of the Criminal Code of Russia ("robbery").

Photo from the site www.sights.metro.ru In Moscow, due to the rain, the work of the Filevskaya metro line was completely paralyzed for a while. "The Filev line is on the surface, and land and sand were washed on the rails in some areas," RIA Novosti was told in the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate. At 8.56 in the morning, the movement was restored throughout the Filevskaya line. In addition, in the morning the rain significantly complicated the road transport situation in Moscow.

The Libyan government has agreed to pay compensation to the families of those who died in a plane blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988, reports the Times. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has acknowledged responsibility for the explosion on board a Pan American Boeing 747 flying from London to New York. The attack killed 270 people. Lockerbie was virtually destroyed.

Five people were killed in a shootout in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh on Tuesday. The exchange of fire took place between security forces and, presumably, militants. Among the dead were four members of the security services and one suspect. Seven more were arrested, according to the BBC. According to eyewitnesses, fire was opened when security forces surrounded three villas in the Al-Suwaidi district in southern Riyadh.

An Il-96 with malfunctions on board is expected to land at the Sheremetyevo-1 airport, RIA Novosti reports, citing data from the airport administration. "Currently, all on-duty operational services are on alert, in the immediate vicinity of the runway, doctors and firefighters are waiting for the plane," the agency's interlocutor said. According to her, the Il-96 plane, which operates the Khabarovsk-Moscow flight, had problems with the engine.

A well-known lawyer and businessman from St. Petersburg, Ruslan Kolyak, was killed on one of the Yalta beaches, ForUm reports. It is known that Kolyak was associated with the leader of the "Tambovskaya" criminal group Vladimir Kumarin, among the "Tambovites" he went under the nickname "Goggle-Eyed". Kolyak owned several clubs and restaurants in St. Petersburg, acted as a producer of the well-known St. Petersburg television program Sutki.

In the United States, more than 600 immigrants from the former USSR and Russia have been charged with large-scale fraud and collaboration with the "Russian mafia". Among them are many doctors, lawyers and psychologists, AP reports. All of them are in the case of fraudulent embezzlement of more than $ 48 million from State Farm, said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spot.

On Wednesday, Moscow's Basmanny Court will consider a petition from the Prosecutor General's Office to extend the detention of Aleksey Pichugin, head of the 4th Department of Internal Economic Security of Yukos Oil Company. The court will also consider the complaint of Pichugin's lawyers against the actions of the head of the investigative group of the Prosecutor General's Office in his criminal case, Yuri Burtovoy.

US troops have arrested Saddam Hussein's former bodyguard in Iraq, Reuters reports. In addition, a former Iraqi army general was detained. According to the US military, both Iraqis were detained during a raid in Hussein's hometown of Tikrit. In total, during the operation, the Americans detained 14 people.

Kamchatka rescuers began climbing the Klyuchevskoy volcano to a height of 4,350 meters to evacuate the body of the deceased Czech tourist Miloslav Smilovsky. This was reported to RIA Novosti by Alexander Putyatin, deputy head of the Kamchatka search and rescue team. At an altitude of 2.5 thousand meters, he said, the rescuers will set up a base camp, from where they will be in constant contact with all participants in the rescue operation.

Telephones with numbers beginning with the number "6" will appear in Moscow, the press service of MGTS OJSC told RBC. On Wednesday, the company put into operation the first exchange in the code of the sixth million zone, which until that moment was considered a reserve one. Numbers from the first digit "0" are reserved for special services, "5" - for the near Moscow region, "8" - for "intercity".

Shamil Basayev. Photo from the site www.nationalism.org The UN Security Council for sanctions on the Taliban and Al-Qaida movement and associated persons and organizations completed on Tuesday the consideration of the joint statement of Russia, the USA and Great Britain on the consolidated list of Shamil Basayev. “From today, the name Basayev is included in the“ black list, ”a source in the constant representative office of the Russian Federation at the UN said in an interview with ITAR -TASS.

A fire broke out on the non-main gas pipeline Kazan - Nizhny Novgorod, two kilometers from the village of Isakovo in Tatarstan, NEWSru.com reports citing Interfax. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic, the fire started due to a pipe rupture that occurred during a scheduled test with an increase in working pressure. There were no casualties or injuries, the environment suffered minor damage.