Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is currently still in Cuba after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, is feeling better. This was stated by Vice President of the Republic Nicolas Maduro on January 15 after returning from Havana, where he visited Mr. Chavez. Mr. Maduro noted that the Venezuelan leader, who is recovering from complications arising from surgery, is confidently on the mend, France Press reports.

Expert on the prospects of the Aerosvit carrier The Ukrainian airline has canceled flights between Kiev and Moscow, but does not exclude the possibility of resuming flights in this direction. The departure of a player from the market may lead to an increase in the cost of air tickets, experts say, but the return of Aerosvit is unlikely. Ukrainian airline Aerosvit has stopped flying to Moscow.

The state program of space activities in Russia until 2020 has been published The Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has published the state program “Russian Space Activities for 2013-2020.” The main objectives in the document are the deployment and maintenance of orbital constellations, increasing the number of civil and dual-use satellites, as well as increasing the share of rocket and space products on the world market to 16% by 2020.

Law enforcement agencies of Chechnya demand that access to the online encyclopedia of memes “Lurkomorye” and the “Imam-TV” website be closed. On Thursday, the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that they had found propaganda for suicide on these sites, as well as calls for extremist activities.

Transport Vladivostok International Airport (JSC MAV) served over 1.62 million people in 2012 and increased passenger traffic by 11% by 2011, the airport press service reports. On domestic airlines, passenger traffic amounted to almost 1.2 million people, which exceeds the previous period by 6%. 428 thousand passengers were served on international routes, which is 31% more than in 2011.

Enterprises of the oil and petrochemical industry of Tatarstan shipped products worth 860 billion rubles in 2012, increasing production volume by 7.2%. They received more than 60 billion rubles. added value and transferred 198.5 billion rubles. taxes, of which 60 billion rubles, go to the consolidated budget of Tatarstan. This was announced yesterday at a meeting of the board of directors of OJSC Tatneftekhiminvest-holding by the general director of the enterprise, Rafinat Yarullin.

Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky may be released from a Cambodian prison on Wednesday, January 16, the businessman’s former partner in foreign projects and friend of the businessman, Sergei Vladi, who is familiar with the situation, told Interfax on January 15. “Yes, I do not exclude such a possibility and I really hope so,” Mr. Vlady said by phone from Cambodia. According to him, the judge confirmed that he accepted the sailors’ statement renouncing claims against the Russians.

LUKOIL is offering Iraq to extend the contract for West Qurna-2 for five years due to an adjustment in the planned level of annual production, the head of Russia's largest private oil company, Vagit Alekperov, said on January 15. “We have a proposal to increase the term by five years. I will be in Iraq on the 17th, and we will hold final negotiations,” the Prime agency quotes him as saying.

Sergei Lavrov did not convince the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry of the prospects of the Customs Union Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov completed his visit to Chernivtsi yesterday, where he held talks with his new Ukrainian colleague Leonid Kozhara. And then speaking at a local university, the Russian minister announced that there were no insurmountable differences between Moscow and Kiev, and detailed the economic benefits of Ukraine's potential membership in the Customs Union.

The Rosprirodnadzor Commission, having considered the results of state geological supervision, sent to the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use proposals for early termination of the license of TNK-BP's subsidiary, Rospan International CJSC, for the East Urengoy gas condensate field, as well as 25 licenses of Rosneft OJSC for hydrocarbon areas in the Chechen Republic, follows from the department’s materials.

A Strasbourg court ruled that a British airline had no right to punish an employee for wearing a cross. Nadia Eweida's litigation with British Airways lasted six years. Experts note that airlines usually prohibit employees from wearing flashy jewelry, but this does not apply to crosses and wedding rings. An employee of British Airways defended the right to wear a cross. The European Court of Human Rights upheld Nadia Eweida's claim.

In the Svyatoshinsky district of Kyiv, near the “Velika Kishenya” store, a security guard of a private structure wounded an inspector of the patrol service of the Svyatoshinsky district department of the GUMVD in Kyiv and two citizens with a traumatic weapon. According to the public relations department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyiv, the incident occurred on January 13 at about 2 am at the address. Lesya Kurbasa, 6 G.

The first ever two-time Olympic champion in rhythmic gymnastics in the individual all-around, Evgenia Kanaeva, announced her retirement from the sport, as reported on January 15 on the official website of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics (VFKhG). In December 2012, 22-year-old Kanaeva announced this possibility at the reporting and election conference of the WFHG. Evgenia Kanaeva, elected vice-president of the WFHG, won gold at the Beijing and London Olympics.

Sergei Lavrov did not convince Leonid Kozhara of the prospects of the vehicle Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov completed his visit to Chernivtsi yesterday, where he held talks with the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Leonid Kozhara. Speaking at a local university, the Russian minister described the economic benefits of Ukraine's potential membership in the Customs Union.

Government documents may end up in Yandex. On January 15, the State Duma in the first reading considered a bill that would make information required for publication by government authorities accessible and understandable to ordinary citizens. Kommersant FM correspondent Anatoly Burchakov told the details to presenter Margarita Polyanskaya. Voting on the bill will take place on the evening of January 15. — What does the bill provide for? How will all these documents be made clear and simple?