The United States expressed concern to the development of the situation in Ukraine - especially in connection with the investigation of the circumstances of the disappearance of journalist Georgy Gongadze. This was stated on Tuesday by the representative of the State Department Richard Bucher. The delegation of the European Union intends to demand a comprehensive investigation into the “Gongadze case”.

In Kyiv, negotiations are held by the delegation of the European Union with the leadership of Ukraine, which discusses the domestic political situation in the country and a number of issues of European security. The EU delegation includes the current chairman of the European Union, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Anna Lindt, an EU representative for international affairs and security, Javier Solan and other high -ranking persons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the 13 percent income tax rate in the coming years will not change. At today's meeting in the Kremlin with the heads of tax authorities, Putin emphasized that the state, having introduced a low income tax at the beginning of the year, went to meet the entrepreneurs and is now “expecting a return from them”.

In the UK, 35 illegal immigrants from the countries of the former USSR were arrested, and the police are sure that they were delivered to the country with the help of the Russian mafia. All 35 people were arrested today during a special police operation in the Primorsky town of Sautport, in the north-west of England. Illegal immigrants worked at farms and small private enterprises. Everyone had very professionally forged documents, so employers did not suspect them of anything.

US President George Bush said that, despite the end of the Cold War, the world has a threat of weapons of mass destruction by countries with the so -called "little predictable" regimes. Speaking at the military base in Norfolka, Bush noted the need to preserve the NATO union along with the development of the "new architecture" of defense for the United States and its allies. The American president proposes to increase the US military budget by 2002 by $ 14 billion.

The Russian government today is considering the bill on amendments to the 2001 budget - in connection with payments on external debt. According to the law, more additional budget revenues, including privatization, will be aimed at payments on debts.

In Chechnya, Russian units and military facilities over the past day were fired at 14 times. According to the Russian military, one policeman died as a result of attacks. In the Leninsky district of the Grozny district, a military commandant’s car was blown up on a mine. There are no victims. Over the past day, Russian troops detained 17 people - on suspicion of involvement in Chechen armed groups. The sappers neutralized 19 explosive devices.

Oncologists from the University of Ayov are preparing clinical trials of a new method for treating prostate cancer. Under local anesthesia, several dozen thin rods made of a cobalt alloy with palladium are introduced into the body of the tumor, and they are heated with a variable magnetic field. Experts on animals showed that such heating destroys cancer cells and blocks the blood supply to the tumor.

According to preliminary data, one person died and 10 were injured as a result of a collision of a suburban train and a truck at a railway crossing in the Leningrad Region. Three people are hospitalized. The causes of the accident have not yet been established.

The Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Russia German Gref said that the payment of Soviet debts to the Parisian Club of Creditors is a difficult decision. Speaking in Berlin after a meeting with the German Minister of Economics Werner Müller, Gref emphasized that Russia does not refuse to pay off debts of the Paris club in the amount of $ 39 billion.

The president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Gavel, will have to spend at least another few days in the hospital, the doctors said today. Yesterday, 64-year-old Gavel suddenly interrupted the visit to Kuwait and returned to Prague on the personal plane of Emir Kuwait. Doctors diagnosed acute bronchitis and the beginning of pneumonia. Gavel is spelled out antibiotics.

The Chairman of the European Commission, Romano Prodi calls on to begin an open, comprehensive discussion about the prospects for the development of united Europe and its role in the world. Speaking today in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Prodi emphasized that the European Union should not just be a political association, but one of the decisive factors of the modern world.

The Russian government approved the bill on amendments to the federal budget of the current year in connection with the need for payments on external debt. According to Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, the document will soon be submitted for approval by the State Duma. According to Kasyanov, the government changed the priority of spending funds received as additional budget revenues.

Marina Timasheva, Moscow: An exhibition "The Avangard" exhibition opened in the Tretyakov Gallery. It presents the works of six Russian artists. The exhibition traveled to Europe and America for a year and a half, it was seen by more than 900 thousand people. The exhibition owes its name a phrase from a book about the Russian avant -garde Benedict Lifshitsa.

Victoria Munblit, Tel Aviv: If on Monday some Israeli politicians optimistically stated that it is too early to talk about the new exacerbation of the conflict, and it is only about individual outbreaks of violence, then on Tuesday both the Palestinian and Israeli side unequivocally admitted: yes, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict entered into a new phase.