Yesterday, in the 14-hour issue of the Vesti program on the Rossiya TV channel, the 29-minute performance of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin was shown to his proxies to his proxies. As Kommersant said on the TV channel, the plot was not paid by a candidate from the electoral fund, since the channel broadcast his performance not as election campaign, but also not within the framework of the free broadcast.

Vladimir Lukin is appointed Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation. At today's meeting of the State Duma, 333 deputies voted for Lukin, there were four against, one refrained, RIA Novosti reports. Lukin’s candidacy was proposed on Wednesday by President Vladimir Putin, after which a vote was urgently appointed. Now the former Ombudsman Oleg Mironov even expressed surprise with such a hurry.

Today marks the thirty years since the expulsion of Alexander Solzhenitsyn from the USSR. The day before, he was arrested by the prosecutor's office and placed in the investigative of the KGB of Lefortovo. There, the writer was charged with "treason" - Article 64 of the then Criminal Code.

In Moscow, compensation was paid to 54 families of the dead and injured as a result of the attack, which occurred on February 6 in the Moscow metro, reports Interfax. 16 relatives of the dead received 100 thousand rubles each and 50 thousand rubles each - 22 victims. More than 3 million rubles were allocated for this. In addition, 38 citizens are compensated for the value of the lost property. In Moscow hospitals there are 88 victims of the attack.

The story with the elections of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia, which will be held today in the Duma, is overgrown with strange details. The current Ombudsman Oleg Mironov, who is now in the hospital, said that no one warned him about the nomination of Vladimir Lukin to this position and he learned about the news on TV.

Assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, captain of the 1st rank Igor Dygalo, said that the fishing vessel detained on the eve of the coast of Georgia is Ukrainian, and not Russian, ITAR-TASS reports. Now the Russian Foreign Ministry intends to investigate the most serious way, as it turned out that the Ukrainian captain raised the Russian flag on the ship, RIA Novosti reports with reference to a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The American journalist Rebecca Santan , who was counting from February 8, went to Chechnya in the North Caucasus, without warning anyone about this. This was reported in the information department of the President of Russia with reference to Russian law enforcement agencies, RIA Novosti reports. She did not warn either the American embassy in Moscow or the Russian departments responsible for the safety of foreign correspondents in the North Caucasus.

Ivan Rybkin, who was in London, said that he was in Kyiv unconscious for four days under the influence of drugs, reports Echo of Moscow with reference to ITAR-TASS. “I was lured there under false pretexts, and I thought that I was a meeting there Aslan Maskhadov,” said the presidential candidate. “Instead, I was abducted, exposed to drugs. I was in an unconscious state for four days.” “I don’t know who did this, but I know who benefits from this,” said Ivan Rybkin.

** February 16, Monday ** The main events: A press conference of a candidate for the post of President of the Russian Federation Sergey Mironov will be held on the topic "at the start of the election campaign.

In the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Chinese enterprise Xinda won the competition for the right to geological exploration and gold mining in the Tulovchikha River basin. The government of the autonomy reported on Friday that the proven reserves of gold at the deposit amount to 500 kg. According to the terms of the competition, Chinese gold miners are given three years for its full geological exploration.

In the United States, there was a compromise on the leader of the presidential race from the Democrats, Senator John Kerry. The extreme Internet edition of The Drudge Report claims that Kerry, being married, had “had a connection” with a woman who then forced to leave the country for two years. No details are reported, but almost all the large Western media picked up this news, reports Newsru.com . Apparently, we are talking about a woman who worked with Kerry during the election campaign.

** Themes of the day ** Vladimir Putin, having abandoned television and a free television, nevertheless, considered it necessary to speak with his election program: the first and possibly the only “candidate” event of the current president was his speech before the heads of regional election headquarters and his proxies . The media noted that the speech of V.

Last night, the coastal guard of Georgia was detained by the Seiner “Tregan”, which was walking under the Russian flag. Now the ship with 17 crew members on board is under arrest in the Georgian port of Poti. This was announced by Interfax by the Deputy Chairman of the State Department for the Protection of the State Border of Georgia, the head of the coast guard service, Major General David Gulu. According to him, the seiner illegally caught fish in the territorial waters of Georgia.

US assistance to the Government of Uzbekistan in 2003 amounted to $ 95.9 million, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic said.

In the Moscow Region, unknown from firearms, a branch of the gas pipeline connecting Podolsk and Chekhov was fired. According to a source in law enforcement agencies in the Moscow region, the pipe was shelling at about 16:00. According to the preliminary version, the first shots were fired in the Chekhov area, as a result of which 4 holes were formed in the pipeline. By a happy chance, fire and the subsequent explosion of gas did not occur, Interfax reports.