Who cares about tourism? Since the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, tourist advertising “Israel is a wonderful country” has disappeared from Russian television screens. The flow of tourists has dropped sharply, however, both the Israeli side and local tour organizers are not panicking. They rely on the distinctive features of the Russian tourist - fearlessness and... love for freebies.

In four years, the Moscow House of Photography managed to make her a national treasure. The Moscow House of Photography celebrated its fourth birthday with a small exhibition at the Moscow Arts Center on Neglinnaya. It was not particularly solemn - after all, it was not an anniversary, but an ordinary anniversary. At the same time, those gathered asked each other incredulously: “Has it really only been four years?” In fact, the legal status of MDF is four years old.

Negotiations with a Chechen detachment continue in the Caucasus Mountains Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said yesterday that the “most part” of the armed Chechens who entered Georgian territory at the end of last week had surrendered their weapons. We are talking about 20-25 militants who are in very serious condition, but there are no wounded among them. According to Shevardnadze, they are extremely weakened due to the fact that they have not eaten anything for a long time.

Edmond Pope trial faces 88 claims US citizen Edmond Pope, accused by the Russian authorities of espionage, began yesterday at a closed hearing in the Moscow City Court to read a 40-page statement to the court outlining his vision of the sad story that happened to him in Russia. The American considers himself innocent and, according to his lawyer Pavel Astakhov, expressed disappointment that “he will not have to see a fair trial.” “There is no Themis in this room,” said Mr. Pope.

Moscow “Spartak” will play tomorrow in the German Leverkusen with the local “Bayer” as part of the Champions League, the situation in which is attracting the attention of all of Germany these days. We have already reported that Bayer coach Christophe Daum was accused of drug addiction a few weeks ago, then he voluntarily consented to an examination, and last weekend he was fired from all posts because independent experts confirmed that Daum used cocaine.

Alexander Rutskoi will try to judge the elections for himself The gubernatorial elections last weekend brought both victory and defeat to the Unity party. On Sakhalin, the “bears” candidate Igor Farkhutdinov won the elections in the first round, retaining the governor’s chair for another term. But Kursk candidate Alexander Rutsky suffered a setback: by a court decision, he was not allowed to participate in the elections at the very last moment - 13 hours before the vote. Mr.

An exhibition of Swedish artist Jan Hofström has opened “Inner Station” is an intimate exhibition and not ambitious. That’s why it looks good in the laboratory space of the Institute of Contemporary Art (former workshop of Ilya Kabakov). Unlike museum or protocol exhibitions, here you see a fragment of everyday life of modern Western art. The exhibition is divided into two autonomous parts. One is a series of photographs of installations by Jan Hofström.

The Kremlin Cup started yesterday in Moscow The Kremlin Tennis Cup, in its twelfth year of existence, once again uses the concept of “for the first time.” Moreover, if, when it was born, the tournament became the first experience of holding large commercial competitions only for Russia, now we are “ahead of the rest” in tennis.

Divers wait out the storm The work of divers in the Barents Sea was stopped at 17.15 yesterday due to a strong storm. Murmansk weather forecasters promise that the weather should improve today. But it is difficult to rely on this: the stormy season has arrived, and the precious time when there was no wind at sea was lost in September-October thanks to the senseless throwing around of the Russian side, which for two months could not find a contractor to carry out a deep-sea operation.

The contract murder was recently uncovered during a joint operation by employees of the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and operatives from the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Volgograd Region. On October 2, two founders of the large local company "April" - Fateev and Kravtsov - were killed in Volgograd. The killers were waiting for their victims near the entrance of the house.

We'll make you pay anyway The intrigue around Kuzbassprombank is becoming more and more dramatic. After painful deliberation, the Bank of Russia revoked the license of the PBC. Immediately after the Kemerovo court rejected ARCO’s appeal against the decision to declare illegal the July resolution of the bank’s shareholders’ meeting. But first things first.

Boris Makarenko, Center for Election Technologies: “I don’t presume to say that the Kremlin is to blame for the removal of Alexander Rutsky from the election campaign. But one way or another, the Kremlin is involved in this event. Probably, the whole operation was carried out with the tacit encouragement of Moscow. And this situation, of course, will somehow affect the regions' relations with the federal center. The center has shown that in case of dissatisfaction it will act extremely harshly.

LUKOIL expects to reconsider the Mazeikiai oil refinery deal As it became known, distinguished guests are expected in the Baltics in mid-November: the head of LUKOIL, Vagit Alekperov, and the “honorary oilman” Viktor Chernomyrdin. The timing was not chosen by chance: the visitors are waiting for the formation of a new cabinet of ministers in Lithuania.

The Russian government is mentally prepared to order the sinking of the Mir orbital station. This can be judged from yesterday's statement by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who quite confidently told reporters that the station would be deorbited and flooded at the end of February 2001. Despite the inevitable reservation in such cases that the situation could develop differently if extra-budgetary sources of funding are found, Mr. Klebanov’s tone still indicated the absence of doubts.

The experiment has been going on for a year at Moscow School No. 266. Instead of a monotonous catering menu, a “buffet” was introduced here, where children themselves can choose dishes to taste. It is quite possible that this experience will soon spread to all schools in the capital. There is no smell of burnt milk or sour table rags here. It smells like food in here. This can probably be attributed to the innate accuracy of local chefs, but that’s not the only reason.