Andrey Litvinov Vladimir Putin once again showed amazing knowledge of the Yukos case, even more than prosecutors from the Prosecutor General's Office. On Thursday, while talking to the people, the prime minister recounted the accusations against the former head of the company's security service, Alexei Pichugin, who was convicted of organizing several murders. He certainly acted "in the interests and at the direction of his masters," Putin said.

The Tretyakov Gallery (TG) on Krymsky Val will receive a new building, after which the museum will free up the space it occupies in the Central House of Artists (CHA), Director of the State Tretyakov Gallery Irina Lebedeva said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Friday. “This decision was made in the authorities, and on December 2 we received the registered order of the Russian government number 1796-r dated November 28, before that we did not know about it,” she said.

In Russia, the number of people convicted of extremism is growing. Becoming an extremist is easy - you need to offend the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB or the head of the region Irek Murtazin, former press secretary of Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev, became famous for writing on his blog a year ago: "Shaimiev passed away." Last Thursday he was sentenced to a year and nine months in a colony-settlement.

Diana Kulchitskaya Last Wednesday, the State Duma granted the participants in the South Ossetian conflict the status of combat veterans. The military who participated in the five-day operation in South Ossetia will receive a number of benefits: a 50% discount on utilities and the right to install a home telephone out of order. In addition, they are entitled to a monthly allowance of 1,735 rubles. The decision of the State Duma will come into force in January 2010.