In a dispute with Russia, Georgia is actively trying to achieve the location of Europe. Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Nino Burjanadze and the EU Commissioner on Foreign Policy Benit Ferrero-Waldner Russian and Georgian diplomats are conducting intensive negotiations to mitigate tension that arose in bilateral relations after the decision of the Georgian parliament on the revision of the mandate of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

The program is conducted by Alexei Kuznetsov. The Radio Liberty correspondent in Moscow Maxim Yaroshevsky takes part. Alexei Kuznetsov: Deputies of the State Duma of Russia today plan to accept a statement condemning a statement by Georgian parliamentarians to replace Russian peacekeepers in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict with international forces. The draft document was developed by the CIS Commission.

Deputies of the State Duma against the replacement of Russian peacekeepers in the Georgian-Ossetian zone charity rock concert "For Russia without fascism, war and violence!" in Moscow

Viktor Rezunkov: As expected, experts were warned and continued to warn about this, as the presidential elections approached the Kremlin, tension is growing between all the key figures of a large game. This was written on the pages of the newspaper "New Izvestia" Sergey Tkachuk in an article entitled "Kremlin Gambit". The theme “successor-2008” remains the central political topic in Russian, and not only Russian media, the main political intrigue of the next two years.

According to the report of the analytical company Yankee Group , by 2009 the capacity of the market for mobile telephony services in Europe, in the Middle East and Africa will exceed $ 270 billion. In 2004, the market amounted to 64 billion. The main contribution to the development of the market will be investments in the countries of Africa and Eastern Europe.

German Gref: Russia's entry into the WTO depends on political will Moscow is going to complete all the formalities in the entry of Russia to the WTO in the first half of this year. And by the end of the year to become a full member of the organization. This was announced today at the International Congress "Russia in the WTO: Hopes and Strategic Opportunities" by the head of the Ministry of Economic Development German Gref.

The International Biathlon Union disqualified for two years Russian woman Olga Pylev, convicted of prohibited medications. Previously, Pyleva was deprived of a silver medal obtained by the results of the 15 km race, and expelled from Turin. The athlete herself claims that she has never taken forbidden drugs consciously. “This is a rude and terrible mistake,” she told reporters after the hearing in her case in the International Biathlon Union.

Cheboksary Association "Khimprom" once produced chemical weapons The participants of the Big Eight summit in the Canadian city of Kananaskis in 2002, as part of the Global Partnership program created by them, pledged to allocate up to $ 20 billion for the elimination of chemical weapons in the states of the former USSR for 10 years. Great Britain promised to bring up to $ 850 million to the total piggy bank.

In the Chita region, the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service appealed to the regional court a decision to remove the reprimand from the ex-head of the Yukos Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Last week, the City of Krasnokamensk recognized the penalty imposed by the leadership of the colony, illegal. The authorities claimed that Khodorkovsky left the workplace without permission. Lawyers proved to the court that their client did not leave the limits of sewing production.

In the United States, the eastern musical ensemble organized by the American Middle East Foundation of refugees takes place in the United States. According to one of the four musicians of the ensemble, the Palestinian Ahmad al-Khatib, the ensemble wants to present a genuine Palestinian culture that is not related to suicide bombers.

In Ashgabat today there is a meeting of President Saparmurat Niyazov with the head of the Russian concern "Gazprom" Alexei Miller. In the negotiations on energy cooperation, the Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine Ivan Plachkov may take part. Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Industry of Russia, Viktor Khristenko, did not exclude that the gas supply agreement concluded between Moscow and Kiev in early January could be revised.

In the new National Gallery in Berlin, the exhibition "Melancholy - a genius and madness in art" was opened. It presents the works of Dürer, Caspar David Friedrich, Munk, Picasso and other masters, only almost 400 works. The exhibition will last until May 7.

The anesthetist David Warner and his colleagues from the famous American Clinic Mayo came to the conclusion that the time before the surgical operation was the best period to quit smoking forever. The fact is that after the operation, smokers suffer less from nicotine starvation than if they stopped smoking at any other time. This is explained by the action of medicines and therapeutic procedures, usually used by surgeons and suppress the craving for nicotine.

The volume of “gray”, half -legal imports to Russia of some goods should be reduced to at least 15%by the end of the year, the Minister of Trade and Economic Development German Gref said yesterday at a meeting of the Federal Customs Service. Today, according to him, the share of “gray” imports in the total supply of household appliances, electronics and mobile phones can reach 85%to the country, 60%, furniture - 50%.

The Volgograd Administration decided to close the local newspaper for the publication of religious cartoons completed the registration of candidates for the post of president of Belarus, Chairman of the State Council of Dagestan Magomed Ali Magomedov announced his resignation