State corporations are like ghosts: no one has seen them yet, but everyone knows that they exist, and soon there will be many more of them. Some people even see them. Businessman Arkady, who works with Power Machines, shares either fear or secret hope: “Our [Severstal Group owner Alexei] Mordashov will soon be bent over, and he will turn the private company Power Machines into a state corporation of the same name.

Four boys and eight girls rehearse a Christmas mystery in a small private kindergarten on the outskirts of Warsaw. Kostak will play Joseph, and Petrus this year will be the real villain - King Herod. In a children's performance, justice is done faster than in Holy Scripture - while the Magi worship the Holy Family, death is already dragging Herod off the stage. Finding himself without a friend, Kostak-Joseph begins to get bored.

The brightest Russian sports victory of the outgoing year happened not on the Luzhniki synthetic turf - the players then almost ruined everything themselves, but on the floor of the Madrid basketball hall. The Russian team sensationally won the European Basketball Championship - despite the fact that it had a little more chances than the football team. Andrey Kirilenko became the best player of the championship - our only NBA star.

The subjective list of the best films of the year from the Russian Newsweek film reviewer, traditional for the New Year's issue, needs comments this time. Although some on our site swear that the movie season was bad, I would like to expand the list. So it's not such a bad season. Regrettably, we excluded "The Queen" and "Letters from Iwo Jima", although they did not make it into our top ten for 2006 either, as they only appeared in Europe and Russia in the spring.

The main art scandal of the year: Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov banned the exhibition of Russian political art in Paris prepared by the State Tretyakov Gallery of a number of works by contemporary artists.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, justifying himself with the Islamic threat, dispersed opposition rallies, turned off mobile communications, declared a state of emergency and closed television channels. The main opponent of the government, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, returned to the country the day before.

Dear reader! As always, the last issue of the magazine in the outgoing year, it is also the first in the coming year - about what was and what will be. "Putin of Miracles" - the president's political surprises for the season are being inventoried by Mikhail Fishman . One of the miracles is Putin's cult, but Nikita Mikhalkov in an interview with us refuses to co-author.

Downshifting - the western abandonment of a career in favor of plant life by the warm ocean is now known to the general Russian public. Our fellow citizens are more fond of the “soft option”: a long vacation “in the south”, primarily in the Indian state of Goa, with the money received from renting an apartment in their homeland.

Yulia Tymoshenko again instead of Viktor Yanukovych . The Ukrainian "orange" coalition, having recovered, defeated the Party of Regions with a slight advantage. President Viktor Yushchenko had to submit Tymoshenko's candidacy to parliament. The position of the cabinet is precarious, but Ms Tymoshenko dominates the ruling coalition and has every chance of becoming the "orange" president of the country in 2009.

The reign of the twins in Poland - the only one in world history - has come to an end. Lech Kaczynski, the country's president, distinguished from his brother only by a mole on his nose, was left without Prime Minister Yaroslav Kaczynski after early parliamentary elections. The new head of government, Donald Tusk, promised to improve relations with Russia that had been damaged by the brothers, for which she is ready to let Polish meat into her market.

The first Russian Sotheby s, entirely dedicated to contemporary art, took place in February. In May, the famous auction house opened its office in Moscow. During the year, both Russian classics of the 19th century and art of the Silver Age set new price records in the West.

In the next Duma, there will no longer be a separate ultra-right parliamentary faction - this year, for the first time, the Kremlin did not allow nationalists to participate in elections and destroyed their political structures. And one of the leaders of the nationalist movement, Dmitry Rogozin, is sent as the Russian ambassador to NATO.

Interview with Peter Darakhvelidze - director of external relations of the WebMoney Transfer system What is the share of WebMoney in the domestic market of electronic payments today? What is the dynamics of this indicator for WebMoney in 2006-2007, as well as in comparison with other payment systems? I think that with regard to market share, it is not very correct to ask the leaders of this market to evaluate their own position.

Boris Yeltsin's death was sudden, and at first there was confusion in the tone of the state media. They say that the Kremlin even discussed whether to declare mourning? But the opinion prevailed that a solemn state funeral would lay a new sovereign tradition - not to fight with one's past. However, by autumn, the denunciation of the "damned 90s" resumed: their catastrophic return began to be predicted if Yeltsin's successor Vladimir Putin was not elected as a "national leader."

The captain of the Russian national football team Andrei Arshavin was waiting for Newsweek correspondent Alexander Belyaev at the Jumeirah Bech Resort in the UAE, where he and his wife Yulia are resting after a difficult season. Its balcony offers a great view of the most expensive hotel in the world - "Sail". “But I wouldn’t live there - it’s too pretentious,” says the highest paid football player in Russia. - Radim (Zenith player Vladislav Radimov.