Spain has begun the withdrawal of its military contingent from Afghanistan, the General Staff of the country's armed forces said.

Rostov Bank Center-Invest and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed an agreement to provide the bank with two credit lines totaling 1.5 billion rubles. (750 million and 750 million rubles) for a period of three years, the press service of Center-Invest reported. The bank will use the funds received to finance energy-efficient projects for the population and to introduce energy-efficient technologies in industry, agriculture and housing and communal services.

Security forces blocked a bandit group of 15 people on the border of Chechnya and Ingushetia, five militants who tried to break through the cordon were killed, RIA Novosti reported on March 16, citing a message from the National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAC). “Five bandits attempted to break through the cordon using automatic weapons and grenade launchers. They were all neutralized by return fire. They are currently being identified,” the statement said.

Despite two falls and a number of smaller mistakes, the 22-year-old Canadian defended the world title on home soil, Russian Maxim Kovtun is seventeenth 22-year-old Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan, the world record holder for points received for the short program, despite the unsuccessful free program, only thanks to the margin of safety, retained the final championship and became a three-time world champion in London, Canada on Friday.

In his Twitter microblog, United Russia member Andrei Isaev wrote several posts at once, in which he promised to deal with the authors who allowed themselves to “dirtyly attack 3 women deputies.” As for the “small creatures”, the politician is indifferent to them. The yellow newspaper contains a vile, vile, dirty attack on 3 female deputies. The scoundrels who did this should know: we will definitely not forget, we will not forgive!

Rates have been reduced for corporate borrowers Sberbank has decided to massively reduce rates on corporate loans. However, according to experts, this is not so much a consequence of pressure from the authorities as an attempt to reverse the negative trend of reducing the loan portfolio. Photo: Oleg Kharseev, Kommersant The fact that Sberbank has reduced rates on loans to corporate borrowers since March 1 was announced yesterday by its President German Gref.

The soil collapsed on a section of the Moscow Ring Road in the capital on the morning of March 16, and seven cars fell into a hole filled with water, a law enforcement source told RIA Novosti . “On the 92nd kilometer of the Moscow Ring Road, a partial subsidence of the soil occurred. Seven cars were damaged, no people were injured,” the agency’s source said. According to him, traffic on this section of the road is limited, and the area where the asphalt subsides is cordoned off.

Moscow football clubs Spartak and Lokomotiv played a draw in the match of the 21st round of the Russian Premier League, RIA Novosti reports. The meeting, which took place on March 16 at Luzhniki, ended with a score of 0:0. At the end of the 21st round, the Russian championship takes a break for games of national teams. The Russian team will play two games at this time.

Former Honda Motor Rus employee convicted of extortion A verdict has been issued in a criminal case regarding extortion of money from the management of the Tatarstan auto holding Tattranskom. Roman Usanov, a former employee of Honda Motor Rus LLC, was found guilty. According to investigators, he demanded 1 million rubles, threatening to close car dealerships. The court imposed a suspended sentence on Roman Usanov, who admitted his guilt.

Construction of a waste processing complex is being discussed The Chairman of the Government of the Volgograd Region Oleg Kersanov held negotiations with the Lithuanian company ECOSERVICE and the President of the International Commission MEDEF, French Advisor on Foreign Economic Affairs Philippe Verber about the construction of a waste processing complex in the region. The parameters of this project are still being worked out.

In the Russian Khanty-Mansiysk, the women's pursuit race at the Biathlon World Cup stage ended, in which the best Ukrainian athlete, Vita Semerenko, finished in 10th place. The competition in Khanty-Mansiysk took place today in heavy snowfall, which is why none of the participants were able to shoot accurately at the shooting ranges.

The Federation Council does not intend to respond to “slanders” The Federation Council (SF) will not consider Alexei Navalny’s accusations against Senator Vitaly Malkin, whose blogger discovered Israeli citizenship and undeclared foreign property, without an official request. The Federation Council Committee on Regulations and the Commission for Monitoring the Accuracy of Declarations explain this by ethical considerations.

The former general director of Kefir Production LLC was suspected of arrears The Main Investigation Department (GID) of the Investigative Committee for Moscow opened a criminal case against Vladislav Severtsev, who until recently held the post of general director of Kefir Production LLC, a company that produces the popular show “Battle of Psychics” for the TNT channel. Mr. Severtsev is suspected of tax evasion of 46.5 million rubles.

Alexander Legkov became the winner of the 50 km freestyle ski race at the World Cup in Oslo, Norway, the R-Sport agency reports. On March 16, Legkov finished first with a time of 2 hours 7 minutes 32.9 seconds, 1.2 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Martin Jonsrud Sundby. Another Russian Ilya Chernousov (+1.9 seconds) became the bronze medalist.

The Kirov District Court of Astrakhan arrested on Saturday Alexander Kuptsov, accused of taking hostages at a fishing college on March 14.