Today in Rostov-on-Don the trial of Colonel Yuri Budanov resumes. The commander of the 160th Tank Regiment is accused of murdering 18-year-old Chechen girl Elza Kungaeva. As the investigation established, in March last year Budanov drove an armored car into the village of Tangi. There he picked up the girl and took her to his unit. During the preliminary investigation, the colonel stated that he did not intend to kill the girl. And he detained her because, according to him, she was a sniper.

The head of the Vladivostok administration, Yuri Kopylov, today formally apologized to the presidential envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District, Konstantin Pulikovsky, for the fact that posters offensive to the envoy appeared on the streets of the city this winter. The apology was made live on Primorsky Radio.

The 4th annual Russian economic forum will be held on April 10-11 this year in London. RIA Novosti reports this with reference to the presentation of the forum, which took place at the British Embassy in Russia. According to the organizers of the conference, which will be held for the fourth time, this is the only large-scale international event dedicated to Russian business.

The Unity faction today expelled two State Duma deputies from its membership, Konstantin Sevenard and Abdul-Wahed Niyazov, NTV reports with reference to NTV Both deputies, as announced, were expelled “for various violations about which they had previously been repeatedly warned”; at the same time, Sevenard was expelled from the faction by vote, and they wanted to do the same with Niyazov, but he left on his own.

On Monday, a hearing began in Yekaterinburg in the case of police captain Oleg Gerfanov, accused of drug trafficking. Gerfanov was detained last summer during a joint operation by operatives of the department for combating drug trafficking of the Kirovsky District Department of Internal Affairs of Yekaterinburg, employees of the Federal Security Service and members of the public organization "City Without Drugs".

The Mission Control Center announced today that the shift that will be responsible for the final removal of the Mir station from orbit on the morning of March 23 will be led by Vladimir Solovyov, the cosmonaut who commanded the first expedition to the station in 1986.

A train from Chechnya arrives at the railway station in the Kuzbass city of Yurga. The 74th motorized rifle brigade stationed in Yurga is returning home. “It’s too early to sum up the results of your participation in the counter-terrorism operation.

On March 22, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who oversees the military-industrial complex, will present a government project for reforming the military-industrial complex at a meeting of the State Council Presidium, ITAR-TASS reports. According to Klebanov himself, the Cabinet of Ministers intends to create “technologically integrated concerns and holdings” on the basis of military-industrial complex enterprises.

The Macedonian army used tanks for the first time to destroy Albanian separatists who had settled in the mountains at strategic heights near the city of Tetovo. During shelling of militant positions, units of the Macedonian army and police use several T-55 tanks, which were previously transferred to Tetovo as reinforcements for local special forces, ITAR-TASS reports.

In Primorye, disputes between contenders for the post of governor are already in full swing. First of all, one of the most famous candidates , Viktor Cherepkov, criticizes the Primorye politicians who came to power during the era of the governorship of Yevgeny Nazdratenko. For example, Cherepkov clearly does not like Yuri Kopylov, who became the mayor of Vladivostok. “Yura Kopylov gave you everything, then increased your prices for utility services three times.

Today, the Interdepartmental Commission on the Russian orbital station "Mir" will finally determine the date of the station's flooding. In principle, the date was announced the day before - March 23, Friday, but today experts will check all the data provided by the Mission Control Center and make a final verdict. The NTV television company, citing ITAR-TASS, reports that the Interdepartmental Commission will most likely agree with the recommendations of the MCC.

On Wednesday, March 22, the oil company Rosneft is to sign a contract with the Algerian Ministry of Energy for the exploration and development of promising oil-bearing territories under production sharing conditions (PSA), Russian news agencies report. Progress in the development of cooperation between the Russian oil company and the Algerian authorities became known from a statement by the head of the Rosneft department, Ivan Chernov.

Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar said the drought in Afghanistan has ended after the destruction of two giant Buddha statues. Last week there was heavy rain in the country for the first time in four years. According to Omar, Allah refused to send down rain until the Taliban destroyed the Buddhist statues. The world's two largest Buddha statues, carved into rocks 1,500 years ago, were destroyed this month despite international protests.

Vladimir Putin signed a decree “On the Council for Interaction with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation,” the Blagovest-info agency reports. The head of state approved the new composition of the Council, excluding representatives of federal government bodies from it. At the same time, a number of well-known Russian religious scholars were introduced to the Council.

The Mir station will be flooded on March 23 at approximately 9:30 Moscow time. According to the press service of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, this decision was made by the Interdepartmental State Commission headed by the General Director of Rosaviakosmos Yuri Koptev. As the NTV television company previously reported, the date of March 23 was announced a few days ago, but today experts checked all the data provided by the Mission Control Center and made a final verdict.