The trial of Igor Sutyagin, one of Russia's leading analysts on military-political issues, accused of spying for the United States, began yesterday in the Kaluga Regional Court. The official, who held the post of head of the military-technical policy sector of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was arrested by FSB officers in October last year.

Ten years ago, they joke in Israel, here you could meet people speaking Russian. Today you can meet someone who speaks Hebrew. The rest are in Russian. But these, to the chagrin of Russian tour operators and local representatives of the tourism industry, are not tourists.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov ordered the coordination of the position of the State Customs Committee and the Ministry of Finance on the settlement of Most Bank's debt to these departments. The head of the press service of the customs committee, Vladimir Emelyanov, reported this to the Vremya Novostey newspaper.

The Kremlin is annoyed by the trip of deputies to Nazran An attempt by a group of State Duma deputies to enter into a political dialogue with representatives of the Chechen separatists caused a negative reaction in the Kremlin and a positive response from some regional leaders. The first contact between Moscow politicians and representatives of the separatists since 1998 occurred on Saturday in Nazran.

Traditional biathlon competition “Izhevsk Rifle”. Izhevsk (Russia). Men . 20 km. Sergey Konovalov (Perm region) - 56.21.2 (2 misses). 10 km . Vladimir Drachev (St. Petersburg) - 28.37.7 (0). Relay 4x7.5 km. Udmurtia-1 (Kobelev, Churin, Tcherezov, Maksimov) - 1:26.00.8 (0). Women . 15 km . Lidiya Efremova (Chuvashia) - 52.01.7 (2). 7.5 km. Svetlana Chernousova (Krasnoyarsk Territory) - 26.40.4 (0). The 4x7.5 km relay race was canceled due to frost.

In one day, the Ulyanovsk region renewed almost the entire vertical of executive power. Now there is not only a new governor, but also three new mayors: in Ulyanovsk itself, in the two largest cities - Dmitrovgrad and Barysh, as well as new heads of administration in 11 out of 23 districts. More notable than other victories is the victory of General Vladimir Shamanov over the former governor Yuri Goryachev, who ruled the region continuously for more than 13 years.

Last Sunday, mayoral elections were held in the four largest cities of the Rostov region. In Rostov, Taganrog and Azov, the current heads of administration are celebrating the victory. But in Novocherkassk, the mayor’s chair will now be occupied by the rector of the Military Institute of Communications, General Anatoly Volkov. By the way, perhaps the most scandalous election campaign took place in Novocherkassk.

The immediate targets are NORSI-Oil and the Moscow Refinery “In the coming months, LUKOIL will absorb another Russian oil company,” LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov said in Baku last week. Although the name of the company was not mentioned, it is clear to everyone that Alekperov was referring to the Nizhny Novgorod oil refining company NORSI-Oil and its upcoming privatization.

Khabarovsk authorities left him in place At the largest dairy plant in the Far East - DAKGOMZ (Komsomolsk-on-Amur) - there has been a change in management. This is the result of an extraordinary meeting of shareholders initiated by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the largest shareholder of the enterprise.

Separatists do not want to let riders into the sands of the Sahara Less than a week remains before the start of the traditional Paris-Dakar marathon, which opens the FIM World Cup off-road rally-raid season.

The Federal Energy Commission is increasing the subscription fee for electricity by 5 rubles from January 1, 2001. up to 40.45 rub. for 1000 kWh for all consumers. The FEC reported this to news agencies. In addition, from January 1, the price of electricity from the federal wholesale electricity and capacity market will increase by 20%. "TIME FOR NEWS"

Sberbank will help him with this by issuing an extra-long loan. An unprecedented long-term loan by Russian standards for eight years was provided by Sberbank of Russia to the North-Western Shipping Company (NWP). $49 million was provided to the shipping company to launch its own shipbuilding program. NWP announced the construction of ten river-sea class dry cargo ships back in the spring of this year.

The Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange informs about the schedule of trading sessions on the MICEX during the holiday period. From December 30 to January 2 and from January 6 to 8, trading is not carried out on the exchange.

The circle of RAO UES reformers is expanding The reform of RAO UES of Russia, which was the object of close attention of the Duma last week, will today become the subject of discussion by the Presidium of the State Council.

Bill Clinton forgave Bush's legs and elderly embezzler On Christmas Day, Bill Clinton used his constitutional powers to pardon 59 convicted Americans. This is not the end - in the three weeks remaining in the White House, the Democratic president, who has not previously abused the right to mercy, intends to make a number of fellow citizens happy, and it is this second party that may cause a scandal.