Ren TV channel can soon change the owner. Its President Irena Lesnevskaya is actively negotiating with the leadership of the German channel RTL. The head of RTL Hans Mar at the beginning of this week flew to Moscow and held negotiations with Irena Lesnevskaya, the leadership of RAO UES, and also visited the presidential administration. The Russian office of RTL confirmed the fact of Hans Mara’s arrival in Moscow, but reported that negotiations have not yet been completed, Izvestia writes.

The operation to save the trawler Vankarem , which lasted more than two days in the Tatar Strait, has been completed. According to Portnadzor of the Kholm Sea Fish port, on Friday morning two tugboats brought a injured vessel in the port. Now the ship will be repaired and the causes of malfunctions will be repaired.

In Chechnya, from today, the issuance of compensation for the housing and property lost during hostilities should resumes. The day before, the chairman of the Government Committee on Compensation Payments Abubakir Baibatyrov said that from April 23, compensation for 8 thousand 900 families will be allowed. Baibatyrov also said that the compilation of a full list of destroyed housing will end by May 1, ITAR-TASS reports.

Poland plans a significant reduction in its troops in Iraq after universal elections in this country, which should take place in 2005. This was announced to reporters by the Minister of Defense of Poland Jerzy Shmijinsky, RIA Novosti reports. Earlier, the media reported that Poland did not intend to withdraw troops. Answering the question of whether the Polish troops will remain in Iraq after June 30, 2004, the Shmijinsky stated: "We are preparing the next rotation of the Polish group.

The UGPS reported that the fire in the Cherkizov market was eliminated. There are no victims, since all visitors and market sellers were evacuated in time. Now firefighters pour burned structures with water to prevent the coal ignition. According to preliminary data, the warehouse fired due to improper handling of electrical equipment.
Recall that the fire broke out in one of the metal hangars at 11:45.

The fifth Moscow photobiennale covers dozens of participating countries, more than a hundred projects and thousands of square meters of exhibition square. The capital of our Motherland demonstrates to the Western guests and to itself, which is also not basting, he studies at universities and appreciates actual art.

Belarus will not import Russian electricity in 2004. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister of the Belarusian government Vladimir Semashko, reports Gazeta.ru . According to him, last year the country has developed 31 billion kW/h, while the capacity of the Belarusian energy system allows you to develop 45 billion kW/h.

The leadership of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Arkhangelsk Region asked the media not to conduct his own investigation to establish the personality of the detainee on suspicion of involvement in the explosion of a residential building in Arkhangelsk, RIA Novosti was told in the press service. Representatives of the police are afraid of the revenge of the victims, which can fall upon his relatives in the event of a priation of a surname.

**April 26, Monday** The main events: The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia, Maria Carolina Barco Isaacson, arrives in Russia on a three-day visit, during which she will hold negotiations with the head of the country's foreign policy department, S. Lavrov. Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov is leaving for Luxembourg on a visit, during which he will take part in a meeting of the Permanent Russia-European Union Partnership Council at the level of foreign ministers.

Yesterday, one of the 59 miners who declared the Yenisei in Khakassia hunger strike died yesterday. According to reporters, a member of the Gornyakov initiative group Alexander Merkuryev, 54-year-old Anatoly Sitkin was among the participants in the hunger strike in the daytime, and returned home in the evenings, but never complained about health problems. Merkuryev said that the state of the protesters, among which eight women, is observed by the ambulance.

** Themes of the day ** From the federal level, the central media drew attention to the visit to Moscow for negotiations with the Russian leadership on the eve of the accession to the EU ten new members of the Chairman of the European Commission R. Prodi and the seven European Commissars .

**Draw a line?** One of the important events of the past week, which attracted the attention of the media, was the speech of the head of the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Stepashin, at an international round table meeting dedicated to the results of privatization in Russia. Sergei Stepashin, a man who has long been in the “deck” of the top leaders of the state, finally, a former prime minister, and even from the “St.

The US Congress approved a bill on early elections if more than 100 congressmen die as a result of a terrorist attack. 306 members of the chamber voted for such a decision, they were 97 against. Earlier, the legislation established the possibility of temporary appointment of Congress members in case of their mass death, reports Associated Press.

In the Czech Republic, negotiations are ending on the purchase of the United Machine -Building Plants - power machines "three enterprises of the Skoda Holding concern. We are talking about the purchase of the Skoda JS nuclear engineering plant and the Skoda Steel consortium, which includes steel enterprises, is reported by Izvestia.

The Ministry of Industry of Russia made a proposal to reduce import duties for automobile components for industrial assembly of foreign cars in Russia. About this writes today "Gazeta.ru" . As the representative of the Ministry of Industry of Russia Alexei Serezhenkin specified, this will require the introduction of appropriate changes to the Customs Code. The corresponding project in the department has already been prepared.