A powerful hurricane fell upon the northern territories of Great Britain yesterday. Gusts of wind, reaching a speed of 200 km/h, damaged thousands of residential buildings. Between the Shhetland Islands and Scotland is interrupted by ferry message. There is no data on the victims.

The previously held position of head of the press service of the President of Russia, Alexei Gromov, was appointed spokesman acting President Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Rakhmanin, who had previously worked as the director of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was appointed head of the presidential protocol.

I.O. President Vladimir Putin spoke today by phone with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. The leaders of both states confirmed the need to conduct the CIS summit on January 25-26 in Moscow.

Tomorrow will be a meeting of the acting President Vladimir Putin with the leaders of the deputy factions and groups of the State Duma of the second and third convocations. The meeting will discuss issues related to the work of the new Duma and the upcoming presidential election.

According to Echo of Moscow with reference to a source in the "Russian newspaper", the text of the law on the presidential election will be published tomorrow. Thus, as already said by the head of the Committee on the Constitutional Legislation of the Federation Council Sergey Sobyanin, the Federation Council at tomorrow's meeting will be able to set the date of early elections.

Public associations and initiative groups have a little more than a month left to collect signatures in support of candidates for the president, since, if the elections are scheduled for March 26, on February 10, the deadline for the delivery of signature sheets expires. This was announced by the deputy head of the Kremlin administration Igor Shabdurasulov. Until February 18, the Central Election Commission will have to decide on registration or motivated refusal to presidential candidates.

The leader of the "Union of Right Forces" Sergei Kiriyenko announced the support of General Boris Gromov in the elections of the Governor of the Moscow Region. "I carefully monitor the election struggle in the suburbs. My sincere sympathies are on the side of Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov," Kiriyenko’s appeal to the residents of the Moscow Region said. In addition to the "Union of Right Forces", Gromov is also supported by Yabloko and OVR. The second round of elections will be held on January 9th.

Yesterday, acting President Vladimir Putin accepted in the Kremlin the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Marat Balyai, who, after the meeting, said that the head of state consulted with him on issues related to the constitution.

Today, the London Stock Exchange resumed work. At the very beginning of the day of the quotation of Russian securities, they began to approach the RTS index, which on the day of the resignation of Boris Yeltsin grew by 16.8%. According to many experts, the growth of quotations may continue, which is explained by the fact that after the departure of Boris Yeltsin, the development of political events in Russia is less subject to chance.

Last weekend, the acting President Vladimir Putin dismissed the press secretary Dmitry Yakushkin, the head of the presidential protocol Vladimir Shevchenko, as well as the image adviser Tatyana Dyachenko. By decree of Putin, Yakushkin was appointed adviser to the head of the Kremlin administration.

The Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate has created a specialized department to combat illegal production and the turnover of audio and video products, as well as computer information carriers. Earlier, employees of other departments were engaged in the fight against pirates. The number of a new department, which is 50 people, is impressive.

In Yoshkar-Ola, a meeting of the Committee on Education of the initiative group of voters to nominate Vladimir Putin to the post of President of Russia took place. The committee included representatives of "Unity", "Union of Right Forces", as well as entrepreneurial and public associations. The Committee was headed by the representative of the president in the Republic of Mari El Anatoly Popov.

According to the Russian military, heavy battles are underway in Grozny. The positions of the federal forces are fired from mortars and anti -aircraft guidelines. According to the head of the State Council of Chechnya, Malik Saydullaev, in some places the militants went on the offensive and captured several settlements, including Khankala and Yarmolovka, adjacent to the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny.

On the first day of the year, the first deputy head of the Kremlin administration said that Boris Yeltsin made the decision to resign on his own and for the first time in many years had a holiday in the “elevated location”. Shabdurasulov also made it clear that the Kremlin did not doubt Putin’s victory in the presidential election, although, according to him, the administration should be ready for any outcome.

Powerful hurricanes went today through the southwestern states of the United States. More than 1000 buildings, several dozen industrial facilities were destroyed. Many settlements were left without electricity. More than 30 people were hospitalized. The number of victims continues to grow. A state of emergency has been announced in the Western states, a commandant hour has been introduced.