8:31 The prosecutor's office of the city of Volgorechensk, Kostroma region, is investigating a high-profile criminal case. Two employees of the local police department are accused of exceeding their official authority and this entailed grave consequences. Recently the whole city buried 18-year-old Roman Sokoulin. The parents and friends of the deceased claim that his death was the work of Volgorechensk police officers.

Saturday, February 17, 2001. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation established the following official exchange rates: Currency Quantity Well Change US dollar 1 28.66 Euro 1 26.00 Italian lira 1000 13.43 German mark 1 13.29 French franc 10 39.64 Pound sterling 1 41.64 Japanese yen 100 24.82 +0.17 Friday, February 16, 2001.

February 17, 14:03 Today, a meeting of the central council of the Yabloko party is taking place in Khimki near Moscow. Yabloko members themselves say that today’s event is not entirely ordinary. A number of political statements have already been made at it - including about the situation in the country, about President Putin and about the NTV television company. Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky stated the need for Russia to move along a democratic path of development.

Stock reports as of February 16, 19:35 Index Change Dow Jones 10815.50 - 0.69% NASDAQ 2441.29 - 4.37% PTC 180.11 - 3.55% Russian stock market After two days of strong growth, Russian markets sharply fell down. Against the background of record volumes of transactions for 2001 - 37 million dollars, shares of the majority of Russian blue chips fell in price by 4-5%. The RTS composite index fell by 3.55% and amounted to 180.11 points.