The leadership of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) approved the project developed by the league players’ union for organizing air travel for KHL teams and players. The need to control air travel and air carriers arose after the tragedy of the Lokomotiv hockey club. The Yak-42 plane carrying the Lokomotiv players crashed on September 7, 2011 in the Yaroslavl region. Of the 45 people on board, only flight engineer Alexander Sizov survived.

The investigation denied the lawyer of the husband of the woman who died in an accident with the car of LUKOIL top manager Anatoly Barkov on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow to conduct a new examination of this emergency, the GUMVD for Moscow reported on February 9. “The petition was received on January 25 of this year. In it, the lawyer asks to order a comprehensive automotive, forensic and physical-chemical examination in the criminal case.

Greece's political leaders have agreed on austerity measures to secure new emergency loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, two government sources said on February 9. “Yes, an agreement has been reached,” Reuters quoted one government official as saying.

17 1 min. ... “Lokomotiv” (Russia, Novosibirsk) — “Unterhaching” (Germany) 3:0 (25:19, 25:19, 25:19); first match 3:1. “Zenit” (Russia, Kazan) — “Poitiers” (France) 3:0 (25:12, 25:23, 25:19); first match 3:2. Lokomotiv and Zenit reached the quarter finals.

Political observer Stanislav Kucher asked questions: what kind of meeting did Vladimir Putin actually have yesterday with the leaders of the main Russian faiths? For whom was it organized? Who did it benefit? I am convinced that this was an absolutely formal pre-election event, which had to be shown on federal channels in order to “gratify” the sentiments of believers.

On February 9, the Greek Court of Appeal rejected the defense's request for the release from pre-trial detention of the abbot of the Athos monastery of Vatopedi Ephraim. The defense asked to change the preventive measure for the clergyman, who is accused of abuses in the exchange of real estate between the monastery and the state several years ago. According to investigators, these transactions caused multi-million dollar damage to the state.

Vladimir Putin will attend the congress of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Businessmen have a lot of complaints against the authorities, in particular the tax burden, but they shouldn’t expect real relief, experts say. Vladimir Putin will attend the RUIE congress on Thursday. The agenda is devoted to key issues of improving the business climate in Russia.

finance correspondent Daria Yurischeva brings to the point of absurdity Bank clients are always unhappy. Mortgage borrowers of the Bank of Moscow, who took out loans in exotic currencies, are unhappy with the restructuring scheme proposed by the bank. In November, the bank launched a restructuring of mortgages in Swiss francs and Japanese yen, the rates of which increased by tens of percent. The bank decided to take this step after borrowers staged a picket outside its head office.

The Federal Service for Labor and Employment (Rostrud) recorded an increase in labor mobility of Russians as part of anti-crisis programs in the labor market. The number of workers who moved within Russia for the purpose of employment increased to 11.6 thousand people in 2011, from 11 thousand in 2010. Further growth of this indicator is questionable, since from 2012 these programs will be financed not by the center, but by the regions themselves.

The owner of the Taurus meat processing plant, Sergei Bryzgalov, intends to build the region’s largest slaughterhouse at a site in the Kungur region, which will be designed to slaughter 120 heads of pigs and 20 heads of cattle per hour. In addition, it is planned to increase meat processing capacity to 50 tons of finished products per day. “Slaughter is one of the main operations, which is the key to the quality of meat.

General Director of the Development Corporation of the Republic of Bashkortostan OJSC (controlled by the regional government) Aidar Gareev, who held the position since March last year, resigned early. The decision to terminate his powers as of February 1 was made by the company’s board of directors, the corporation’s press service reported yesterday. The reason for the resignation is the transfer of Mr. Gareev “to another position.” He was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Manager of the Ural branch of the Euroset company Andrey Martemyanov — Outline the trends that emerged in cellular retail in 2011? — First of all, I would like to note the main trend - the transition of consumers to smartphones. I am sure that in the coming years this particular gadget will become a universal device for quick communication and performing absolutely any task.

According to preliminary data from the Federal Customs Service (FCS), in January 2012 the growth of merchandise imports into the Russian Federation from non-CIS countries (about 90% of all imports) in value terms was 26.7 percent compared to January 2011. The January import volume reached $15.3 billion.

The authorities have evidence of financing of the criminal underground from abroad, but the share of such financing cannot be compared with the funds coming from fraud within the country, Alexander Khloponin, the Russian Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, said on February 9. “Unfortunately, the talk that the bandit underground today is financed from abroad is all baby talk. There are facts of resources coming here through charitable societies and various foundations.

The Council of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament decided to invite non-parliamentary parties to an additional meeting of the chamber on February 28, State Duma Deputy Speaker Oleg Morozov told reporters on February 9. At this meeting, it is planned to discuss bills on reforming the political system introduced by the president. One of the bills reduces the minimum number of members of that party required to register a party.