Russia will increase oil supplies to China, but only by rail. As reported on the Nezavisimaya Gazeta website , this was stated by Minister of Industry and Energy Viktor Khristenko during his visit to Beijing. Previously, the Russian government abandoned the construction of the eastern oil pipeline and its branch to Chinese Daqing, contrary to previously reached agreements.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Khakassia overturned the verdict of the Montenegrin City Court against the former director of the Yeniseiskaya mine, Ten Yen Tak, who was found guilty of long-term non-payment of wages to the mine's employees, Interfax reports .

The commission studying the circumstances of the double plane crash , which occurred in the Tula and Rostov regions on the night of August 25, is considering several versions of what happened. No one has yet decided to single out any of them as the main one. The press, based on some facts, has been talking about a terrorist attack for three days now.

On Thursday, early voting began in the high-mountainous Itum-Kalinsky region of Chechnya for the presidential elections of the republic, RIA Novosti reports . This was stated by Deputy Chairman of the Chechen Election Commission Buvaysari Arsakhanov. In accordance with the decision of the election commission, military personnel of the Itum-Kalinsky border detachment began voting, who, due to the nature of their service, cannot arrive at polling stations on election day, August 29.

The Yukos oil company, which the court ordered to pay 99.3 billion rubles to pay off debts to the tax authorities for 2000, appealed to the authorities with a request to write off 30.8 billion rubles from this amount, which constitutes the VAT accrued to the company for oil exports, and also penalties and fines for non-payment of taxes. Chairman of the Board of YUKOS-Moscow Stephen Theede intends to send a corresponding letter to the Federal Tax Service, Vedomosti newspaper reports .

The draw for the Champions League took place in Monaco. As a result, Russian champion CSKA will play against Roman Abramovich's team, London's Chelsea, last year's tournament winner, Portugal's Porto, and France's PSG. Dynamo Kiev was included in the same group with Real Madrid, Italian Roma and German Bayer. Donetsk Shakhtar will play against Spanish Barcelona, ​​Italian Milan and Scottish Celtic.

The remains of all 38 passengers and eight crew members of the Tu-154 airliner that crashed in the Rostov region have been discovered, RIA Novosti reports . As regional prosecutor Anatoly Kharkovsky told the news agency, combing the area in the area of ​​the plane crash is currently ongoing. According to him, the wreckage of the plane is supposed to be delivered to Rostov-on-Don to an aircraft repair plant, where it will be examined.

Two Turkish companies, whose employees were taken hostage in Iraq the day before, announced the beginning of the withdrawal of their employees from the country, reports the Turkish news agency Anatolia. Representatives of the companies Usluel and SA-RA, where the abducted persons worked, said that management decided to withdraw personnel in order to save the lives of the hostages.

According to the results of a survey conducted by The Guardian newspaper among leading scientists in Britain, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott, was named the best science fiction film of all time, the publication's website reports. The film "Blade Runner" was filmed in 1982. His screenplay is based on Philip K. Dick's story "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). Dick's dystopian novel follows a cop hunting illegal androids in a future Los Angeles.

Relatives of Chechens killed by special forces forces have achieved the overturning of the verdict in the so-called “Ulman case,” the RIA Novosti news agency reports . According to the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia, the sentence passed by the North Caucasus District Military Court on May 11, 2004 was cancelled. Then the court acquitted GRU special forces officers accused of shooting six Chechen civilians.

Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov believes his party's decline in popularity is largely due to stylistic and language problems. “The rough bureaucratic language, the language of postulates has simply become boring,” he writes in an article published on the website of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation .

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili addressed the female population of the country and called on its representatives to join the ranks of the reservists of the Georgian army. As RIA Novosti reports with reference to the Novosti-Georgia agency, he said this on Thursday, speaking at one of the summer camps in the west of the country.

FSB explosives experts who arrived from Moscow began working at the site of the crash of the Tu-154 plane in the Rostov region. reports Experts must determine whether there was an explosion on board the airliner, RIA Novosti . Later, members of the state commission to investigate the disaster will arrive in Rostov-on-Don. They have already begun work at the site of the crash of the Tu-134 plane in the Tula region.

In Chechnya, wearing masks on the streets of cities and other populated areas is prohibited. The corresponding order was signed by the acting Minister of Internal Affairs of the republic Ruslan Alkhanov, Interfax reports . Violators of this ban are ordered to open fire to kill. “The order has been given, and I will demand its strict implementation regardless of who is seen wearing a mask,” Alkhanov said.

Relatives of seven Sochi residents who died in the crash of a Tu-154 plane in the Rostov region went to identify the bodies of their loved ones. According to the NTV channel , on the morning of August 26, 19 people left for Rostov on a specially provided bus and personal cars. They are accompanied by three doctors, a psychologist and a car with police officers. Everything has already been prepared for the reception and accommodation of the relatives of the victims.