Participants in the rally, which was held today on Lubyanskaya Square in Moscow, called on the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to restore at the same place the monument to the founder of the Russian special services to Felix Dzerzhinsky. The organizer of the action was the Levoradical Movement "Labor Russia". As one of the speakers stated from the rostrum, in two months, the labor issues collected more than 11 thousand signatures for the restoration of the monument.

Prime Minister Vietnam Fan Van Khai arrived today with a five-day official visit to Russia. It is expected that it will be accepted by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. In addition, the Vietnamese prime minister will meet with the Russian colleague Mikhail Kasyanov, will hold negotiations with the Chairman of the Federation Council Yegor Kravev, as well as the speaker of the State Duma Gennady Seleznev.

Alexander Belov's team took second place in the last Russian championship, and this season plans to compete for gold. After a successful performance in the Russian Cup, Ural Great went to Turkey to participate in a training tournament. In the opening match, the Permians met with the Turkish “Ulker”. Let us remember that it was this club that knocked CSKA out of the Euroleague two years ago. The higher class of Ulker players was felt in this match as well.

Rakhit Aliyev, the son-in-law of the country's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was elected the new President of the Football Federation of Kazakhstan on Saturday. This was reported by the state television channel KHABAR. 31 delegates from all over Kazakhstan took part in the secret ballot. Aliyev replaced Kuralbek Ordabaev as head of Kazakh football.

The British troops in Sierra Leon began an operation to liberate their soldiers hostage from one of the rebel groups. This was announced by the head of the General Staff of the United Kingdom, General Charles Gatrine. According to him, now on the base of the rebels who hold six British holds, there is a battle. The general evaded the assessment of the operation. It’s too early to talk about the results, Charles Gatrine said.

In the Far East of Russia, the fight against illegal migration began. There, along with visas, special cards for foreigners are introduced. With the help of such cards, the goals of the arrival, route and the term of stay in Russia will be determined. Migration cards are already operating in the Khabarovsk Territory of the Chita region. As soon as the necessary batch of cards is imprinted, they will be supplied with all sea, air and land checkpoints on which migration control posts operate.

The last time Sins was the best at the stage of the World Cup more than two years ago. But in the Cyprus, the fortor driver of the Ford team from the first day seized leadership and did not miss him until the end of the stage. The British Colin Makray showing the second result, lagged for 37 seconds behind Sayns. For a minute one and a half lost to the winner the Frenchman Francois Delekur.

The winners of the Moscow International Peace Marathon (MIPP) were Anatoly Archakov and Victoria Klimina. 34-year-old Archakov from Kaluga won the MMMM for the third time in his sports biography, running 42 km 195 m along the Moskvoretsky embankments in 2 hours 16 minutes. 56 sec. 24-year-old Klimina University student from Vladivostok won for the first time - 2:39.60.

Despite a dismal performance on the ATP Tour and a 119th world ranking, Vince Spady will replace Andre Agassi on the American team for the Sydney Games. Recall that Agassi refused to perform in Sydney due to family problems after learning that his mother and sister had cancer. Thus, the American team will be represented by the following names: in singles, in addition to Spady, Todd Martin, Michael Chang and Jeff Tarango will perform.

Without any feeling of regret, Alexey Yashin returned the day before to the location of the NHL club - the Ottawa Senators. This news was announced by the team’s general manager at a special press conference, saying that the hockey player’s strike, which lasted more than a year, was over. “The arbitration decision forced me to return to Ottawa and play another season,” said the Russian. "I'm only here because I won't be allowed to play anywhere else.

The hockey club "Khimik" from Voskresensk, which will play in the top league of the Russian championship in the upcoming season, has been renamed "Podmoskovye". As an ITAR-TASS correspondent was told by the club's press service, this is due to the fact that the governor of the Moscow region, Boris Gromov, took the team under his wing. It is expected that at the end of this season the team will be called Avtodor.

The recent meeting of the leaders of the two Korean states also had an impact on sports life. The International Olympic Committee invited the teams to march under a common flag at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. Today, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said that an agreement had been reached on this between the Olympic committees of the two countries. According to their plan, the common banner should symbolize the unity of the Korean peninsula.

Nigerian football star Nwankwo Kanu is pleading with the people of Nigeria to understand his decision not to compete for the national team at the Olympics. The 24-year-old striker, who led the Nigerians to Atlanta's gold in 1996, after much deliberation, chose to remain with the English team instead of heading to Sydney.

From today, the prices for railway tickets in compartment wagons and wagons of SV have increased by an average of 25%. In addition, as an experiment from September 10, 2000 to September 10, 2001, the Ministry of Railways will independently set prices for tickets to compartment cars of branded trains and wagons of CB all trains. In this case, monitoring will be carried out by determining the conformity of demand and supply.

On the night of Saturday to Sunday, the final of the US Open men's tennis championship will be held on the Arthur Ashe court. Russian Marat Safin will meet with American Pete Samprs. Answering a question about the possible outcome of the match, Safin said that Sampras is not in the best shape right now, and he can be defeated if he plays at 100 percent. US President Bill Clinton is expected to attend Safin's fight with Sampras. And before this match there will be a final in women's doubles.