Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who returned to govern the country today, won the gubernatorial elections in most states. Members of the United Socialist Party came to power in 20 of 23 states, writes Associated Press. Photo: AP Voter turnout was only 53%, a third lower than in the Venezuelan presidential election in October this year. The main thing, according to the party in power, was the victory in the key oil-producing state of Zulia.

In St. Petersburg, a drug courier-swallower was detained at Pulkovo airport. This was reported by the press service of the North-West Customs Administration of the Federal Customs Service. The 21-year-old man arrived on a flight from Dushanbe (Tajikistan). An X-ray examination confirmed the presence of foreign objects in the passenger's gastrointestinal tract. As it turned out, in this way the drug courier tried to smuggle 60 containers of heroin.

The construction trading house "Petrovich" opened its first construction base in Karelia. According to the company's press service, investments in opening a retail outlet in Petrozavodsk on an area of ​​1.5 hectares amounted to about 120 million rubles. The company estimates the payback period for the project to be five years. Construction Trading House Petrovich LLC was founded in St. Petersburg in 1995. It specializes in trade in construction materials in the B2B segment.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski threatened the Russian side with “a shadow on bilateral relations” if the Kremlin does not hurry up in handing over to the Poles the wreckage of the Tu-154 plane that crashed near Smolensk two years ago, on which President Lech Kaczynski was flying.

The main Christmas tree of the country was cut down in the Dmitrov forestry of the Moscow region. The process was attended by acting Governor of the region Andrey Vorobyov and Father Frost. The symbol of the year will be delivered to the capital tomorrow and installed on the Kremlin’s Cathedral Square, RSN reports. Photo: RIA Novosti This tree is 110 years old; foresters say that in recent years they have not seen a spruce with such a beautiful crown.

Details of the tragedy that took place on December 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown (Connecticut) have become known. Photo: facebook.com During the massacre carried out by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, a young teacher, Victoria Soto, sacrificed her life to save the children, ABC reports. Hearing that the killer was approaching her class, 27-year-old V. Soto hid 16 students in a small closet. She told the criminal that the children were in another place. In response, A. Lenza shot her.

OJSC Gazprom plans gas production for 2013. in the amount of 500 billion cubic meters. m. Valery Golubev, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprom OJSC, spoke about this today in St. Petersburg. “The production volume will be at the level of 500 billion cubic meters, but in fact this is slightly more than this year,” he said. At the same time, V.

Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution "On citizens' assessment of the effectiveness of the activities of heads of territorial bodies of federal executive bodies / their structural divisions / taking into account the quality of their provision of public services, as well as on the use of the results of this assessment as the basis for making decisions on the early termination of execution by the relevant managers of their official duties." Photo: ITAR-TASS The

The winter before last resulted in a criminal case for St. Petersburg utility workers. Removing snow from roofs in the winter of 2010-2011, which ended with broken roofs and leaks in the ceilings for residents of “cleaned” houses, may end in the dock for housing service workers. The winter before last resulted in a criminal case for St. Petersburg utility workers.

The Moscow authorities met the Muslims halfway and agreed to allocate six plots for the construction of mosques. The first three should appear in Butovo, Lyublino and in the vicinity of the station. m "Highway Enthusiasts", writes the newspaper "Izvestia".

The trading session on the Russian MICEX foreign exchange market began on December 17 with a depreciation of the national currency of the Russian Federation against the dollar, euro and bi-currency basket (0.55 dollars and 0.45 euros). Photo: RBC The weighted average dollar exchange rate for tomorrow calculations as of 10:20 Moscow time was 30.7148 rubles/dollar, which is 2.5 kopecks. higher than the closing level of the previous trading day.

Belarus does not see a strict need for IMF support, the country's President Alexander Lukashenko said today . “We lived without the IMF and will continue to live. There is no need to worry too much that we will collapse. We will not collapse, as someone would like,” he assured. “If the IMF helps us, we’ll say thank you. They helped us with a small loan, we told them thank you, we’ll serve them, we’ll pay them back on time. If they don’t help, we’ll do without them,” the president emphasized.

Smolny officials demand that Lenfilm return the money for the unfinished film “My Grandmother the Witch.” Claim against the film studio for 15 million rubles. will be considered today in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. Photo: RBC SPB Smolny officials demand that Lenfilm return the money for the unfinished film “My Grandmother the Witch.” Claim against the film studio for 15 million rubles. will be considered today in the Arbitration Court of St.

Members of the St. Petersburg youth union "Yabloko" decided to dissolve themselves. In this way, young Yabloko members reacted to the expulsion of twenty-two activists from the St. Petersburg branch from the ranks of the party. Photo: RBC Members of the St. Petersburg youth union "Yabloko" decided to dissolve themselves. In this way, young Yabloko members reacted to the expulsion of twenty-two activists from the St. Petersburg branch from the ranks of the party.

The Moscow government agreed to the construction of three mosques in different areas of the city, Izvestia reported on Monday, December 17, with reference to the Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the European Part of Russia, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin. Photo: ITAR-TASS He said that mosques will be built in South Butovo, Lyublino and the vicinity of the Shosse Entuziastov metro station. R.