Belarus will stop importing electricity from February 1 in connection with the price increase announced by RAO UES of Russia, while continuing negotiations with RAO on lowering tariffs, adviser to the head of the Belenergo concern Vladimir Korduba told Reuters, Regions.Ru reports. RAO UES, which supplied electricity to Belarus at 1.68 cents per kilowatt-hour, plans to raise the price to 2.15 cents.

Two powerful explosions took place last night in the Iraqi capital, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Saudi news agency. According to preliminary data, the explosions occurred in one of the residential areas in the eastern part of the city. After them, the sounds of ambulance sirens were heard. The agency does not report on the sources and nature of the explosions. Representatives of the American military command have not yet commented on the incident.

On Sunday, the formation of the list of applicants for the Nobel Peace Prize ends, reports AFP. Candidates are known to include US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the European Union (the Nobel Peace Prize can be awarded to organizations). The name of the award winner will be announced in October. By tradition, the names of applicants are never revealed by the Nobel Committee.

On February 1, Operation Deserter begins in the Far Eastern Military District (FEMD). Colonel Anatoly Razmakhnin, head of the Troops and Military Security Service of the Far Eastern Military District, announced this, Gazeta.ru reports with reference to ITAR-TASS. A thorough check of military units within a month will allow, according to him, to establish the real number of escaped soldiers. At the same time, the colonel refused to give the figures of those who arbitrarily left the service.

The tax police of Estonia arrested the accounts of the Center for Information on Human Rights in the Republic, Gazeta.ru reports with reference to ITAR-TASS. According to the director of the Center, Aleksey Semenov, the activity of the organization is currently paralyzed.

At the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Alvaro Gil-Robles, spoke, in his speech he referred Chechnya to those regions where the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights are not observed.

Russian pilgrims are not among the victims of the stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia. The Ekho Moskvy radio station was informed about this on Sunday at the Russian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, citing representatives of the Russian hajj mission. According to a schedule approved by the Saudi authorities, Russian pilgrims perform the ritual of stoning the devil during which the incident occurred in the afternoon.

On Saturday, a large batch of jewelry was stolen in Moscow's GUM, RIA Novosti reports, citing Evgenia Makarova, a representative of the information and public relations department of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the capital. According to her, the theft occurred around 23.00. An investigative team went to the scene of the crime.

OSCE observers. Photo from the site Belarus.cz The International OSCE Mission to observe the elections to the State Duma published a final report based on the results of observation.

According to the migration service, 205,000 labor migrants will receive permission to enter Russia this year, Gazeta.Ru reports citing Interfax. According to Deputy Interior Minister, head of the Federal Migration Service, Colonel-General Alexander Chekalin, the number of labor migrants coming to Russia is regulated by a government decree based on applications from the subjects of the federation. Last year, 400,000 labor migrants came to Russia.

Photo by Sergey Gitman Tuberculosis, which has not been a great problem for Western medicine for a long time, mutates in Russia, gaining resistance to the newest and most severe medicines, Reuters reports. The disease spreads across Russia, affecting the most vulnerable layers: homeless and prisoners. Among this contingent, every tenth is sick. The devastation in the Ftyisies, which came in the post -Soviet era, made it possible to spread almost uncontrollably.

Employees of the Gosnarkokontrol department for the Kaliningrad region and the FSB department for the Baltic Fleet detained 30-year-old Alexander Fuks, an inspector of the audit group of the headquarters of the naval base of the Baltic Fleet, for selling drugs on a large scale. As a source in law enforcement agencies of the Kaliningrad region told REGNUM news agency, about 100 grams of hashish were found and confiscated from a military inspector in the apartment.

The delegates of the 4th Extraordinary Congress of the Russian Party of Pensioners on Saturday removed from their post the chairman of the party, Sergei Atroshchenko. According to the Rosbalt agency, after summarizing the results of the secret ballot, it turned out that the majority of the deputies were in favor of removing him from his post and appointing Valery Hartung, a State Duma deputy, a member of the Central Council of the RPP, as acting chairman of the party.

Local authorities say the number of victims may exceed 100 people. Photo from the Air Force website As a result of the two explosions that occurred in the Iraqi city of Erbil, at least 56 people were killed, and not 10, as previously reported. According to AP, more than 235 people were injured, and it is expected that the number of dead will grow. According to one of the Kurdov ministers, it is possible that the number of victims of the attack will exceed 100.

Ahmad Kadyrov. Photo AFP In Chechnya, unknown people shot one of the security commanders of the President of the Republic and its four colleagues. This was reported by RIA Novosti by a source in local law enforcement agencies. "The crime was committed on Saturday night, but the information about it was received recently. In the village of Allerai (Kurchaloevsky district), unidentified persons in camouflage form penetrated the household of the platoon commander of the President Dadaev.