The Political Council of the Sverdlovsk branch of United Russia agreed on Lyudmila Babushkina, who had previously headed the House of Representatives, as the speaker of the legislative assembly. As a senator of the Federation Council, party members voted to extend the powers of Arkady Chernetsky. Both candidacies were sent for approval to the presidium of the party’s General Council.

The case of a major road accident involving the Honorary Consul of Ecuador, Yuri Fedoseev, was transferred to the Investigation Department at the Vladivostok Ministry of Internal Affairs for a decision on criminal prosecution of the alleged culprit of the accident. “One of the victims, who received serious injuries in an accident involving the honorary consul of Ecuador, did not recover from his coma; he died in the hospital,” said an employee of the Vladivostok traffic police press service.

The Russian Prime Minister said on December 15 that, having become president, he might consider a petition for a pardon for Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Mr. Putin is ready to consider this issue if the ex-head of YUKOS submits a petition for pardon, RIA Novosti reports. “If he writes this appeal, then I will consider this petition, but first I need to become president,” said the head of government.

The head of the Russian Presidential Administration, Sergei Naryshkin, may take the post of Speaker of the State Duma, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov may become chairman of the United Russia faction. On December 15, a source in parliament told RIA Novosti about the possibility of such a scenario. Messrs. Naryshkin and Zhukov accepted the mandates of State Duma deputies, the Russian Central Election Commission told the agency earlier.

Yuri Osintsev on what the government will use to develop vertical planning in the Russian Federation The government’s refusal in 2011 from large-scale support for solving the problems of single-industry towns, which the White House positioned as one of the priorities of anti-crisis social policy back in 2009, was not a de facto refusal - funding for single-industry municipalities simply went to the second level of the budget system.

Liberal Democrats quarreled with prime minister over veto at EU summit The British government was on the verge of a split. The Liberal Democrats, members of the ruling coalition, refused to support Prime Minister David Cameron in parliament, who did not sign the agreement on tightening the budget discipline of the EU countries. In their opinion, the prime minister’s demarche threatens Britain with isolation and economic difficulties.

The new fund will sponsor Russian NGOs The US authorities have announced their intentions to create a special fund to support Russian civil society.

The Federation Council criticized the European Parliament resolution demanding re-elections Russian senators declared their “categorical rejection” of the European Parliament resolution concerning the results of the State Duma elections.

The prosecution again asked for 13 years of strict regime for Sergei Dubinkin The Sverdlovsk Regional Court began arguing between the parties in the criminal case of the head of the regional branch of the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, Sergei Dubinkin. The prosecutor released data on Mr. Dubinkin’s use of a card account in the Cyprus bank Laiki Bank and again demanded that he be sentenced to 13 years in prison. The injured party, the Pension Fund, continues to insist on Mr.

registered by finance department correspondent Petr Rudenko The Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM) has taken an important step towards those arrested. The Federal Financial Markets Service has changed the order, which describes for registrars the procedure for recording securities that a citizen has the right to deposit as collateral upon release from custody.

The main issue of communication between the Prime Minister and the people was very simple. Who will come to the direct line: Vladimir Putin, whom they have become accustomed to in recent years, or a politician who has seen over the past few days that society has changed? For many years, Mr. Putin could not pay attention to the opposition.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is confident that the EU countries will be able to cope with the economic crisis. He said that he discussed in detail the issue of overcoming the consequences of the crisis with the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission. “We hope that our colleagues will be able to overcome the current difficulties. We are practically confident in this and are very interested in this,” Mr.

The popularity of e-books is gaining momentum in the Kama region. Accessible and often free content on the Internet is one reason. At the same time, traditional bookstores are suffering losses and folding their business. But, despite this, BG’s interlocutors believe that book readers will not save “bookaholics” from habitual purchases. Electronic letters In Russia, sales of electronic devices for reading books are increasing every year (see graph).

In the center of Dnepropetrovsk, the Ukraina Hotel is on fire, eyewitnesses report. According to them, the fire broke out on the top floor of the building and is currently being extinguished by several fire trucks. 5 units of equipment and 30 rescuers are working to extinguish the fire. "Ukraine" is the oldest hotel in Dnepropetrovsk, located on Karl Marx Avenue. Based on materials from Interfax-Ukraine news agency

Two people died in a fire at Vaygach Early on Thursday morning, a fire broke out on the nuclear-powered icebreaker Vaygach, moored at the mouth of the Yenisei. Several cabins burned down and two crew members were killed. According to the assurances of all interested departments, the ship’s nuclear reactor was not damaged and the fire cannot have any serious radiation-related consequences.