Yesterday, Putin met with Kasyanov and called on the government to respond very clearly to changes in the economic situation. At a meeting with the Minister of Defense Igor Sergeyev, the results of the visit of Sergeyev to Iran were discussed. What was discussed at the meeting of the President with the head of the Constitutional Court by Marat Bagogay, it is not known, but it must be assumed that the constitutional reform.

In Grozny, judging by the message of Interfax, the militants did not know where. And not just appeared, but dug in and are ready to attack the Russian military. "The militants equipped the shelter at the intersection of Gudermes and Hankalinskaya streets: everything is forced by concrete blocks and faulty cars, and firing points are installed in nearby houses," NTV reports with reference to Interfax.

RIA Novosti reports that Putin is holding a meeting in the Kremlin with the participation of Kasyanov, Voloshin, Secretary of the Security Council of Sergei Ivanov and Silovikov. The agenda is known for which - "various current questions."

RBC reports that in the Duma a project is ready to appeal to Putin deputies of the Agrarian Committee, who ask the president to clearly express his position on the land issue. The head of the apparatus of the committee Nikolai Kalinin explained that the text of the appeal will be considered on January 16 and submitted to the meeting of the chamber on January 18 or 24.

At the Domodedovo airport - an unpleasant incident. Outraged passengers of the deferred flight to Bali Island (and almost 160 people) completely blocked the international terminal of the airport. As a result, the departure of several other flights is broken, riot police are on duty at the airport.

New Year's holidays begin. Time to make and receive gifts. Two -thirds of all adult Russians are going to do both of them. They will make gifts, and expect their receipt. They will exchange New Year's gifts. About a tenth of adult Russians -? Donors without exchange?. They will make gifts to others, and do not expect gifts for themselves. And only four out of a hundred -? Recipients without exchange?. Waiting for a gift, but themselves are not going to make gifts.

Last night, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, on the phone, discussed the situation in the Middle East with Secretary of State Madlaine Albrite. Given the fact that so far neither the Israelis nor Palestinians unconditionally support all Clinton’s proposals, Ivanov agreed with Olbrait to more actively involve the parties in the negotiation process.

Last night, the president with his decree, as expected , removed from his position the chief financier of the Ministry of Defense George Oleinik. The military prosecutor's office accuses him of embezzlement, the size of which is several million dollars. Polit.ru already reported all the details of the loud scandal in the military department. Recall that recently, in the same case, the military prosecutor's office called Julia Tymoshenko for the interrogation of Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister.

The vice-governor of the region Sergei Dorovskaya, according to NTV, found in his office a secret device for listening to negotiations. The prosecutor's office of the region immediately opened a criminal case. The head of the regional administration media, Alexander Tsarik, explained that the Zhuchok apparently established certain local entrepreneurial structures convicted of tax evasion.

Tonight, unknown criminals attacked the film crew of the Vesti program and selected a video camera and cassettes with records. At the same time, the RTR operator Yuri Gavryushin was seriously injured. Journalists said that a kilometer from Sheremetyevo, their car was clamped on both sides of the BMW and "nine"; People who got out of the BMW, threatening with weapons, took a video camera and a cassette from Domodedovo from the film crew.

Putin approved ( as promised , before the New Year) the text of the anthem to the words of Mikhalkov, who on Wednesday was recommended to accept the pseudo-commission to prepare the text of the anthem. The text itself is fully consistent with the fact that a few days before the approval of the words is published in the newspaper Izvestia. "Polit.ru" recalls that he conducts the action "We never recognize this anthem with the anthem of our country."

Having allocated Belorussia a loan of $ 30 million yesterday, the government today made another gift Lukashenko - Kasyanov extended the agreement on partial payment for gas supplies of food and material and technical resources. The terms of the agreement are extended for a period of 2000-2001 by exchanging by letters. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rosagrosnab will have to agree with the Belarusian side a list of supplied equipment in the amount of 1.5 billion rubles.

VTsIOM represents the results of a representative express survey of 1600 Russians, held on December 15-18, 2000 . The distribution of answers to some questions of this study are given as a percentage of the number of respondents. The survey was conducted in 83 settlements, 33 regions of the country (150 points of the survey). Statistical error within 3.8% The data are given in % of the number of respondents. New Year's holidays begin. Time to make and receive gifts.

NTV reports that, thanks to the successful provocation, the entrepreneur Anatoly Bykov, along with his lawyers, began to familiarize themselves with the materials of the criminal case on the attempt on Pavel Struganov.

The government approved an agreement with Ukraine on guarantees of the transit of Russian gas. TNK agreed with the administration of the Orenburg region on the return of the ONACO assets derived on the eve of privatization. Putin ratified the agreement on the construction of the ISS. And the company "Russian Aluminum" in the near future will file oncoming lawsuits against trading companies that require to recover $ 2.7 billion from Rusal. - The news of the evening tape .