Speaking on November 19 in Kyiv, Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Richard Lugar disapproved of the promise of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko to withdraw the Ukrainian contingent from Iraq. “I would be disappointed if Ukraine immediately withdrew its troops from Iraq,” ITAR-TASS quotes Mr. Lugar as saying.

For a group of Omsk swindlers 60 1 min. ... Yesterday, the prosecutor's office of the Omsk region completed the investigation into the case of a group of fraudsters. For six months, four young Omsk residents bought expensive household appliances in stores on credit provided by the Siberian OVK Bank and the Ariadna trading company. The scammers issued loans to third parties and resold the equipment, but the loan was not returned to the bank.

eleven 1 min. ... The Russian government has approved the rules for the distribution of compensation allocated by Ukraine to the relatives of the victims of the Tu-154M disaster over the Black Sea. Yesterday, head of government Mikhail Fradkov signed a corresponding order.

31 4 min. ... Cannes gold will arrive in Yekaterinburg The best commercials of the year November in Yekaterinburg is traditionally rich in advertising: the media are just finding space and time for their advertisers, and the latter are bombarding advertising agencies with orders. This pursuit race has its pleasant stops.

Single trading session eleven 2 minutes. ... CurrencySupplyMin. (RUB)Max. (rub.)Avg. (RUB)Closing (RUB)Change (RUB)Volume (million) USD today 28.5005 28.6 28.5357 28.53 -0.095 1059.664 USD tomorrow 28.5101 28.6001 28.5368 28.5445 -0.1005 1019.799 EUR today 37.2602 37.32 37.2777 37.2999 +0.0789 10,515 Share of exchanges (%) MMVBSMVBSVBRVFBURUVBATMVBNVFBSVMB 97.39 0.60 1.52 0.09 0.26 0.04 0.09 — Currency swap operations Currency SupplyBasic well (RUB)Min. (RUB)Max. (rub.)Avg.

Although no one is watching him eleven 2 minutes. ... Late yesterday evening, Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexey Gordeev began his three-day visit to St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. The formal reason for the visit was the 100th anniversary of the St. Petersburg State Agrarian University (PSAU), which is celebrated today. In addition, the minister will meet with the governors of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region Valentina Matvienko and Valery Serdyukov.

Mikhail Kommersant-Trofimenkov 317 3 min. ... The event of the week is “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) by the legendary Hollywood nonconformist Nicholas Ray, a film whose very name has become a household word. A film that has turned into a myth that has nothing to do with its essence (November 23, “Culture”, 22.10 *****).

7 1 min. ... Yesterday for the Novosibirsk "Sibir" a two-week break in the Russian Super League championship ended with a home match against Novokuznetsk "Metallurg". The West Siberian derby ended in a 1:1 draw. According to Sibir head coach Sergei Nikolaev, the pause should have benefited the team.

On the night of November 19, in 13 regions of Ukraine, due to complicated weather conditions - rain, wind gusts of up to 20 meters per second - the automatic emergency protection system for power lines was activated. As a result, 200 settlements were left without power. Cities and villages in Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Lviv, Chernihiv, Kiev, Kharkov, Ternopil, Vinnitsa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytsky, Poltava and Transcarpathian regions were left without electricity, RIA Novosti reports.

Perm United Russia provided regional standards for payment for housing and communal services 20 3 min. ... Yesterday, in the legislative assembly of the Perm region, when considering the law on standards for payment for housing and communal services, the parliamentary majority for the first time entered into a fundamental dispute with the regional administration. United Russia proposed not to change the standards.

Franco-British summit begins in London allies French President Jacques Chirac arrived in London yesterday. The formal occasion for the Franco-British summit is the centenary of the Entente, or “Concord of the Heart,” a historical pact that put an end to the rivalry between the two colonial powers in the 19th century and largely determined the course of history at the beginning of the 20th.

Premiere of "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" at the Bolshoi Sergey Khodnev says “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District” by Dmitry Shostakovich is one of the items on the sad list of victims of Stalinist totalitarianism and its cultural policies. On January 28, 1936, the Pravda newspaper broke out with the famous article (anonymous, as often happened) “Confusion instead of music,” which condemned the composer’s daring departure from the norms of socialist realism. And at the same time, communist morality.

Beer consumption has decreased in Russia's beer-loving city food industry Beer consumption in St. Petersburg began to decline, despite the overall market growth. This conclusion is contained in a study released yesterday by the Business Analytics company based on the results of sales of barley drink during ten months of this year. Analysts and the producers themselves explain what happened simply: St.

Chechen resident Vakha Musaev was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, Paul Klebnikov. A representative of the Basmanny Court of Moscow explained that Musaev was arrested for 10 days before being charged.

Hydroelectric power plant plan in Altai sparks protests 60 2 minutes. ... Yesterday, at a press conference in Novosibirsk, several environmental organizations in Western Siberia announced the start of an organized offensive against plans to build an Altai hydroelectric power station in Katun. Environmentalists believe that the implementation of the project will cause irreparable harm to Siberian nature. Meanwhile, according to them, drilling work has begun at the site of the future power plant.