In June 2006, Rossvyaznadzor approved the maximum tariff level at which alternative operators must pay for connecting to the networks of significant operators and passing traffic through them. At the end of December, the supervisory body checked how MGTS had carried out its order. It turned out that the terms adopted by this company for connecting the networks of other operators and passing traffic did not meet the requirements.

OAO Sual began paying dividends only last year. On September 29, the company's shareholders decided to transfer 4.9 billion rubles (1.94 rubles per share) for these purposes based on the results of the first half of 2006. And on December 29, they approved the next dividend payments, the company reported yesterday. For the third quarter of 2006, dividends will amount to 3.2 billion rubles (1.26 rubles per share).

In late December 2006, Ulyanovskenergo and the Ulyanovsk Territorial Generating Company filed a petition with the Arbitration Court of the Ulyanovsk Region to declare municipal heat resellers in the regional center, Gorodskoy Teploservis and Teplokom, bankrupt, reported Yevgeny Kornilov, press secretary of the VoTGK.

The FFMS regulation, which requires that securities trading be suspended at 18:00 Moscow time to provide participants with reports and clear transactions, came into effect on January 1, 2007. According to it, each exchange had to submit a new version of the rules to the FFMS before the start of the year, a representative of the service explained earlier. And trading under the new rules will begin when the service registers them, for which it has 30 days.

Rosstat usually publishes its monthly inflation estimate on the 4th-6th of the following month. And data on private capital flows are available from the quarterly publication of the balance of payments. Previously, the Central Bank published the balance of the ended quarter on the first day of the new one, but recently it has moved this date by three to five days. But officials learned their key estimates of the results of last year even before the year ended, on December 29.

Analysts point out that the united Baltika has become the largest public company in the consumer sector. “Baltika’s capitalization on the last day of trading in 2006 was $6.6 billion (yesterday, at the close of trading on the RTS, this figure was $6.92 billion – Vedomosti).

Yes, I think we will achieve an A rating next year. Most likely, it will be given by Moody's. S&P is more conservative, it will wait until the elections. In addition, all agencies revised the country's rating last year, but Moody's did not. Not changing the rating for more than two years is too long a pause, considering the cardinal changes taking place in Russia. And whatever one may say, a trend of decreasing dependence on raw materials has emerged.

The Supreme Court Plenum approved the resolution on criminal penalties for tax crimes on December 28, 2006. This is an “instruction” for the courts on the application of amendments made to the tax articles of the Criminal Code back in 2003. The amendments softened the conditions for criminal liability. But the court's clarifications will come as an unpleasant surprise to many.

The Accounts Chamber is dissatisfied with the implementation of the national agricultural project and the management of federal property. The Ministry of Agriculture did not make calculations on the results of preferential loans to farmers, which is why their financing was reduced by 1 billion rubles in 2006. Rosselkhozbank allocated only 37% of the planned amount to agricultural cooperatives, the Accounts Chamber notes.

Search engines are becoming easier to use year after year. They are improving, and often one keyword is enough to find what you need. However, sometimes you come across the fact that users, especially beginners, are simply afraid to search for something, not understanding how to do it. And if they have somehow mastered the search on some one engine, then, most likely, they will never leave it.

The sanctions imposed by the Americans against a number of Russian companies (see the article on page A2) can be written off as a manifestation of unfair competition on the part of the United States. One can recall the dissatisfaction of the United States with the fact that Russia supplies weapons to countries that Washington considers sponsors of terrorists.

Yesterday, the Rodina (People's Will - SEPR) faction added another phrase to its name - "Patriots of Russia" and changed its leader. The changes began in December, when the leader of the Patriots of Russia party Gennady Semigin and four other independent deputies joined the faction. By a majority vote, it was decided to elect Semigin as the new leader and change the name. Baburin and SEPR chairman Vasily Shestakov were against it.

The 40th Consumer Electronics Show opened in Las Vegas on Monday. The show has already featured keynote speeches from leaders of major corporations, and was opened by Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates. Even before the official opening, he was among those other things, he mentioned the most promising, from his point of view, new products. Then, already during the exhibition, speeches were given by the heads of Motorola, Walt Disney and Dell.

After the new federal law “On Advertising” came into force on January 1, the number of billboards on the streets of Nizhny has significantly decreased, Sergei Steshov, head of the advertising sector at the Ministry for the Support and Development of Small Entrepreneurship, Consumer Market and Services of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, told Vedomosti. “On the remaining billboards, either “There is no advertising, or the numbers have been removed,” he notes.

Emfesz reached an agreement with Pulawy to supply the Polish plant with 150 million cubic meters of gas per year in the spring of 2006. In order for the contract to come into effect, Emfesz had to sign a transportation contract with the Polish state-owned transport company Gaz-System and reserve 3% of its annual gas consumption (about 350 million cubic meters of gas) in Polish gas storage facilities. However, Firtash’s company was unable to gain access to Poland’s gas storage facilities.