Irina Andreeva The government understands that loans must be repaid. But I really don't want to (Photo: EPA ) No, we did not receive any Christmas indulgence from German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Neither walking around Red Square nor riding a Russian troika helped.

Alexander Ryklin Looking from Moscow, there is still no way out of the Chechen crisis It is enough to closely follow military television reports to understand that guerrilla warfare is already being waged in most of the territory of Chechnya. From the very beginning of the new Chechen campaign, independent analysts and experts agreed that Russia faces a long war with unclear prospects and that the militants driven into the mountains will not be destroyed in the near future.

Sergey Ivanov Already in 1814, the English press wrote that the appearance of canned food would free women from household labor (Photo: Alexander Sorin ) Humanity has been preserving food for thousands of years. Since time immemorial, food has been sun-dried and frozen for a long time; When salt became widely available, salting became the main method of preservation. Alas, food in this form lost its nutritional properties, and scurvy was a worse evil for sailors than any enemy.

Peter Weil M.: World of new Russians, 2000 Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya roller skate together. On Stiva Oblonsky's table there is a dish of Japanese sushi. Vronsky is driving a Mercedes. The note is sent not by express, but by pager. Frou-Frou is like a Ferrari. In Anna's boudoir there are Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines.

Vladimir Mau Deregulation of business activity as a way to build a strong state (Valery Vasiliev) No one doubts that the issue of strengthening the state is one of the key ones on the agenda of the Russian government. Moreover, we must clearly see two aspects of this issue. First, will it be possible to strengthen the state? Secondly, what exactly is meant by “strengthening the state” and in what direction will this strengthening be carried out?

Yaroslav Sedov Ballerina Lyudmila Semenyaka celebrates her creative anniversary on the stage of the Drama Theater (Photo: Larisa Pedenchuk ) The heroines of Lyudmila Semenyaki - Aurora, Giselle, Odette, Sylphide, Shirin and other fairy-tale princesses, created for a serene life, face evil forces that destroy their harmonious world. By the thirtieth anniversary of her artistic career, the ballerina herself found herself in such a situation.

Mikhail Margolis The crisis in Russian hockey takes place not on the ice, but in the same place as other crises - in the heads (Photo: Alexander Chernykh ) Recently, the final reports of domestic commentators from major international hockey tournaments increasingly end with the phrase “The Russian team has stepped on the same rake again.” Sometimes this verdict is interpreted broadly - in relation to our entire hockey.

I'M WITH. State Opera and Ballet Theater named after Sapaev. Yoshkar-Ola (Photo: Sapaev State Opera and Ballet Theater ) Just a few years ago it seemed that the Mari Ballet, which flourished in Soviet times but gradually fell into decline, was virtually doomed: the republic had neither money for its maintenance nor professionals capable of leading the troupe. The Bolshoi Theater's premier, Konstantin Ivanov, who was born near Yoshkar-Ola, took over to save the situation.

Alexander Golts, Galina Kovalskaya Placing garrisons in Chechen villages will result in disaster for both the military and local residents (Photo: Sergey Sidorov ) In mid-December, Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin announced the transition to the next (the general did not specify which) stage of the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya.

Yuri Gladilshchikov Sergei Soloviev made a generalizing film about the fate of the lost generation of today's 25-year-olds. Gloomy, but with hope The main character (right) with a monkey and one of his many comrades in misfortune to be young. When the hero distiliates the mafia refrigerator, the monkey throws a bribe to traffic cops from the window of the cabin.

N. P. My shaggy Vinny sleeps all day, eats twice and walks to his heart's content three times in pleasant company. Why a dog’s life, full of need and misfortune, continues to be called a dog’s life, I absolutely don’t understand. Moreover, the beneficial influence of dogs begins to be felt little by little in human relationships. It's late in the evening. Pharmacy. I'm standing in line. That is, there is actually no queue.

(Photo: East News ) In recent years, robots have appeared, apparently and invisibly: both industrial ones, at first glance indistinguishable from machine tools, and more and more humanoid ones. Meanwhile, the most humanoid of robots still move unnaturally - the exact algorithm of human movement, like bird flight, is still very difficult to reproduce.

Dmitry Pinsker Boris Berezovsky sells ORT. More precisely, your stake in 49% of shares. The buyer was one of the companies controlled by the Governor of Chukotka, Roman Abramovich.

Andrey Stakhov Protests in the Czech Republic continue unabated. There have not been such mass protests here since the Velvet Revolution. (Photo: AP ) The strike of Czech television journalists, which began on Christmas Eve December 24 and lasted three weeks, was crowned with success. On Thursday, January 11, the man with whom they were fighting - the new general director of public Czech television Jiri Godac - resigned.

Vera Zvereva Winter evening. Red Square. Parade - grandfathers march in an organized formation. They have white beards. White thick eyebrows, red hats, red fur coats, bags of gifts. Who came to us to please Muscovites on New Year's holidays? - Santa Clauses! - No, you're wrong, baby! These are Santa Clauses. They walk around the square, advertising ice-cold Coca-Cola, and anyone can take a photo with them.