Gogol's prophecies Why Little Russia is not Great Russia Gogol arranged for Ukraine and Russia the first Slavic bazaar in their joint history. The great sorcerer, dreamer and piercingly perspicacious writer left a different legacy to the two states. Good-natured, generous and well-fed Ukraine - these are colorful, bright, elegant pages, inhabited by garish maidens and generous young men.

Mayor time in Sochi On the beaches of Sochi - sold out. The holiday season can be considered open. At the time of signing the issue, already 20 people are applying for the post of mayor of the main Russian resort. The main intrigue is who the Sochi election committee will leave on the lists. Why such a hype - understood The New Times This has not happened in any regional elections in the history of Russia.

Oksana Dmitrieva — The New Times “The social orientation of the budget is a myth.” The State Duma began considering amendments to the 2009 budget. They were analyzed for The New Times by a member of the Committee on Budget and Taxes of the State Duma, a deputy from A Just Russia Oksana Dmitrieva How realistic are the adjusted budget parameters, based on the current crisis realities? Budget revenues are now estimated more or less adequately.

Nikolai Gogol: 200 years beloved, cursed, admiring, terrifying, tempting and prophesying genius. He created an image of Russia that is frighteningly modern even today, in the 21st century. It belongs to two Slavic cultures that still cannot divide it (p. 6). His "Dead Souls" and "The Inspector General" can be studied as a guide to modern Russian life (p. 8). He left unsolved the riddle of his fate, the secret of a far-sighted and suffering soul (p. 10).

Lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant — The New Times March 31 is the first day of open hearings in the Khamovniki Court in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. The new case consists of 188 volumes of the preliminary investigation, 14 volumes of the indictment plus 5 procedural and several volumes of the preliminary hearing. It is already clear that the process will be long and difficult.

Where to go if the factory is over? Magnet on the bottom. Magnitogorsk was one of the first in Russia to feel the weight of global financial problems. Today, it may well become a classic example for textbooks on crisis economics. Magnitogorsk, March 2009. The pipes of the metallurgical plant smoke, as before. But there is no crowding in the city's Employment Center: in Magnitogorsk there are layoffs, the plant is only 60% loaded.

Weak spot in Europe. The economic inequality of the eurozone countries can bring the least developed members of the eurozone to the brink of bankruptcy. Observers united them in a group pejoratively named PIIGS - Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain. The main problems of the newly-minted "pigs" are large debts, distrust of creditors, budget deficits Since the end of 2008, creditors have begun to doubt the solvency of the countries of the PIIGS group.

"By mutual correspondence ..." Since 2004, when the first article of Mikhail Khodorkovsky appeared in the press, written in imprisonment, the Russian public was waiting for an hour when his opponents joined the public dialogue.

“They said that the ruble was made of wood, but it was made of rubber.” This, if someone does not understand, is a joke about the crisis. One of many that are now entertaining not yet fired middle managers and analysts of recently flourishing financial companies. As has always been characteristic of Russian people, they escape from difficult life circumstances with the help of anecdotes about these very circumstances. We offer some of them to the attention of The New Times readers.

It just so happened this week that on April 1, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet face to face for the first time ahead of the G-20 summit in London (more on pp. 32-37). And the day before, on March 31, open hearings on the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev will begin in the Khamovniki Court. On the first day, the plot of the indictment will be read out (about the trial, see p. 14).

The recognition of Valeria Novodvorskaya I get up in the morning, and suddenly it comes to me: after all, I have been married to Putin for 9 years, and what is happening between us is a classic Russian family life. He does not bring me a salary, but I do not cook lunch and do not wash his linen. We live like Steve Oblonsky with Dolly, do not greet, do not talk. And the house is common: 1/8 part of the world. Or darkness.

Investigation of Shenderovich and Co. Against the backdrop of Putin ... An unexpected continuation gets a high-profile story with a picture taken by Ronald Reagan's personal photographer on Red Square in May 1988. The New Times has new unique photo documents at its disposal Let us recall the background of the question. Reagan's personal photographer, Pete Souza, found a 20-year-old photograph in his archives (see photo 1).

Union is no help March in Russian cinema is the time of summing up the results of the last season and the gradual transition to the new one. The season ends with the Nika ceremony, where the favorites of 2008 are awarded, and at that time the selection of new films for the Sochi Kinotavr, which is shaping the cinema landscape of 2009, is already in full swing.

10 years ago, NATO aircraft began to bomb Yugoslavia Balkan tragedy. Ten years have passed since the start of the NATO military campaign against Yugoslavia, an event unprecedented in many respects For the first time since the Second World War, aviation bombed the capital of a European state. For the first time in its history, the North Atlantic Alliance used military force.