Egor Straev. Photo from the site maricevicfineart.ru The ex-governor of the Oryol region and the honorary chairman of the Federation Council Yegor Straev was questioned as a witness in the criminal case of attempts to illegally privatize the shares of OJSC "ORELOLENERGO", as well as the withdrawal from the regional property of the Lesnoy hotel complex, Kommersant reports.

SBU sign. Photos of faces The Security Service of Ukraine holds investigative actions in the main office of Ukrtransgaz, which is a subsidiary of Naftogaz of Ukraine and the operator of the country's gas transportation system. This was announced at the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada by the first deputy leader of the faction of Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko Andrei Kozhemyakin, RIA Novosti reports.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Photo by ar The defense of the ex-head of the Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the head of the MELETEP MENATEP Platon Lebedev asks the Khamovnican Court of Moscow to transfer the criminal case to another court, because, according to lawyers, it is not jurisd with this district court. According to RIA Novosti, this was announced by lawyer Vadim Kluvgan. The defense submitted the corresponding application on Thursday.

Start Discovery. Shot CNN The start of the US Discovery reusable use for the International Space Station was scheduled for March 11. This, according to ITAR-TASS, said on Wednesday representatives of the NASA manned flights program. The launch of the "shuttle" was postponed repeatedly. The last time this was done to check the three valves of the fuel supply system (liquefied hydrogen). At the next launch of shuttle in November last year, one of these valves could not stand it and cracked.

Vulcan Schiluch. Frame of Channel One From the crater of the existing volcano Shuvelucca in Kamchatka on Thursday, the ash was released to a height of 4.7 kilometers, RIA Novosti reports. The representative of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences warned that the volcanic ash, which is the fragments of magmatic material with a diameter of up to 2 millimeters, is able to cause poisoning in people and animals.

Journalist Zoya Svetova has just returned from the Mordovian colony, where she met with Zara Murtazaliyeva, who was convicted of terrorism. Picket for the release of Zara Murtazaliyeva: photo , video Zara Murtazaliyeva denied parole How terrorism cases are falsified: details of the Murtazaliyeva case

Svetlana Bakhmina. Photo by RIA '' News '' The former lawyer of Yukos Svetlana Bakhmin is pressure in order to force her to take part in the new trial of the ex-head of the company Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the former head of the MELIATEP MFI Platon Lebedev. This was on the terms of anonymity by the "Vedomosti" official, close to the presidential administration. According to him, an unofficial condition for its release may be consent to testify in the Khamovniki court.

Moscow, March 4, 2009. One of the leaders of the "Other Russia" Eduard Limonov announces his intention to run for president in 2012. Material AIR Studio.

Alla Pugacheva. Photo from the site www.kv.com.ua Singer Alla Pugacheva stops her concert activity after holding a tour of the anniversary tour in Russia and the CIS, RIA Novosti reports. "I will not kiss a goodbye scene, I just stop concert activities as a singer," said Pugacheva. According to her, she does this for a number of reasons, although it is not the time to leave now - "the crisis is in the yard, you need to earn money." “Here are the two main reasons.

Svetlana Bakhmina. Photo from the site '' newspapers '' Former Vice President of Yukos Vasily Aleksanyan is included in the list of witnesses in the case of the ex-head of the company Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the head of the MELEATEP MFI Platon Lebedev, the name of the former lawyer of Yukos Svetlana Bakhmina on this list. As RIA Novosti reports, one of the participants in the process said this.

Rules. Frame NTV The Central Bank of Russia lowered the official dollar exchange rate by 33 kopecks to the mark of 35.89 rubles per dollar, according to the Central Bank website. The cost of a single European currency decreased by 9 kopecks to the level of 45.26 rubles per euro. The price of a bivalve basket, designed at official courses, amounted to 40.11 rubles. Compared to the previous day, the basket fell into 23 kopecks.

Charles Simony. Photo from the site www.edge.org The interdepartmental commission approved the crew of the 19th expedition to the ISS, which included the Russian cosmonaut, crew commander Gennady Padalka, the American astronaut Bortinzhener, as well as the Charles Simonya Space Tourist, RIA Novosti correspondent from the star town near Moscow. Earlier, the new crew passed the exams for preparing for the ISS flight for "excellent".

The building of the Central Bank. Photo by ITAR-TASS The volume of Russia's international reserves as of February 27 amounted to $ 384.3 billion against $ 381.9 billion for February 20, according to the Central Bank website. Over the week, the Bank of Russia gold and foreign exchange reserves increased by $ 2.4 billion or 0.6 percent. International reserves are highly liquid financial assets that are at the disposal of the Bank of Russia and the Government of Russia.

Victor Erofeev. Photo '' Novaya Gazeta '' Three residents of Moscow applied to the prosecutor with a statement, the reason for which was the texts of the Russian writer Viktor Erofeev.

The border of South Ossetia. Frame '' Vesti '' The delegation of representatives of the International Mission under the auspices of the European Union to investigate the circumstances of the August conflict in the Caucasus, led by Heidi Tagliwini, will arrive on Friday to South Ossetia, where he will discuss the circumstances of the war with the leadership of the republic. According to RIA Novosti, this was announced by the head of the Foreign Ministry of South Ossetia, Murat Gioev.