Orthodox Christians today begin the great post . The first high -passage service - the repentant canon of Andrei of Crete - will be performed tonight by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, ITAR -TASS reports. Seven weeks, believers limit themselves in earthly pleasures and devote most of the time of spiritual life. The Veliky post is crowned by the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ , which this year falls on April 8th.

The Military Court of the Chita garrison sentenced Nasimi Nasimov, a colonel and commander of the military unit, where the corporal Andrei Rudenko served, by the year of imprisonment and a fine of 120 thousand rubles. In addition, the colonel is deprived of the right to occupy positions in the public service for four years.

Russia and Belarus have new mutual claims: this time customs. The State Customs Committee (GTK) of Belarus stated that Russia's claims regarding the procedure for moving "Kaliningrad goods" are unfounded. In a letter that was widespread on the eve of the GTK, it claims that Russia itself, back in 2005, violated the procedure for moving goods from Kaliningrad previously agreed by the parties, putting Belarusian recipients in a discriminatory position.

In Sochi, on Monday, the appraisal commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began work in order to inspect the course of training of the Black Sea resort for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, which are also claimed by Korean Pyeongchang and Austrian Salzburg. IOC experts will spend five days in Sochi-from February 19 to 23, during which they will appreciate the chances of the Russian resort city to the right to be called the capital of the 2014 winter games .

A scientist from Stanford University, Sebastian Tran, announced that the first drivers capable of driving a car will appear by 2030. He announced this on Sunday at the annual conference of the Association for the Promotion of Science in the city of San Francisco, ITAR-TASS reports.

On the federal highway "Volga" (M -7) Moscow - Kazan on Monday is extremely difficult to traffic on the border of the Chuvash Republic and the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The reason for the congestion was an accident on the bridge over the Sura river in the territory of Chuvashia. The situation was aggravated by the intense snowfall and an ice crust that lasted several days, formed on the road due to a sharp difference in air temperature.

In the Leninsky district of the Moscow region, the head of the council of the metropolitan district of Cheremushka Sergey Burkotov, along with his driver, were killed. “At about 21:00 Moscow time on Butovskoye Shosse in the city, a prominent one near the turn to the village of Lopatino, unknown people shot the Toyota Camry Burkotov car. The head of the council and its driver died on the spot,” Interfax reports with reference to law enforcement agencies in the Moscow Region.

On the eve of the arrival of the Olympic evaluative commission in Sochi, the energy sector promised to spend more than $ 2 billion on the development of the city’s electricity economy. In an accelerated manner, new power plants will be built and power lines are laid, which were supposed to be created 25 years ago. Another half a billion dollars from Mart, energy is asked to lay the underwater cable to avoid mass disconnects, RIA Novosti reports.

As a result of a traffic accident, six teenagers were injured near Veliky Novgorod, two of them are in intensive care. As the REGNUM was informed in the regional traffic police department, the incident occurred on February 18 at about 19:55 Moscow time at the 17th kilometer of the Red Machine, Veliky Novgorod. A 29-year-old driver of the VAZ-2106 car crashed into a group of adolescents on the side of the road. According to the traffic police, he was driving drunk and lost control.

The co -owner of Interros and Norilsk Nickel Mikhail Prokhorov leaves the metallurgical business because he will no longer provide multiple growth in investments, explained Mikhail Prokhorov himself in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, talking about his motives for the division of joint business with Mikhail Potanin and plans for the future. According to Prokhorov, he wants to engage only in a fast -growing promising business - this will be hydrogen energy in Russia.

On Monday, Boris Stukalov was officially appointed senior coach of the Russian youth team of Russia. This appointment is informed by the press service of the Russian Football Union . For the past three years, Stukalov headed the Arsenal clubs (Tula), Tom (Tomsk) and Spartak (Vladikavkaz). On Monday, the new mentor of Youth signed a contract, and the official representation of Boris Stukalov of the football community will be held on February 27 at a meeting of the RFU Executive Committee.

In London on Sunday evening, an annual ceremony of presenting the theater awards named after Lawrence Olivier, which are awarded by the Society of the London Theater, was held. The best actor of the 2006 theater in the UK was named Rufuz Seouell for playing the main role in the production of Tom Stoppard "Rock-n Roll".

In the city of Novoaleksandrovsk, on Monday, the funeral of the chieftain of the Nizhne-Kuban department of the Stavropol Cossack Society of the Terek Cossack army Andrei Khanin, who died from the wounds received during the attempt, hosts. Recall, on February 13, the unknown fired several shots in Khanin. Three bullets hit the ataman in the head.

The leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il instructed to remove Japanese -made cars from the streets of the North Korean cities. This is a sign of dissatisfaction with the actions of Tokyo, which recently banned the supply of cars to the north of Korea as part of sanctions against Pyongyan, ITAR -TASS reports with reference to a local information agency. As it turned out later, the instruction was given on January 1.

The plans for the construction of a superpretation in London, the opening of which was supposed to be timed to the 2012 Olympic Games, it seems that it is not destined to be realized, today Daily Telegraph reports (full text on Inopressa.ru ). According to The Sunday Telegraph, the government intends to reject an ambitious project according to which the largest mosque in the country could be erected in the capital of Britain, capable of accommodating up to 70 thousand prayers.