The Moscow City Duma did not approve Viktor Shvidkin as head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate A short break came yesterday in the protracted story surrounding the approval of the current acting. Head of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate Viktor Shvidkin. Deputies of the Moscow City Duma, for whose approval this candidacy was submitted, considered it officially for the first time since February last year and made a decision in which no one doubted.

St. Petersburg sold 5.5 hectares of land While statesmen were arguing about land rights in the State Council yesterday, the largest land auction in post-Soviet times quietly took place in St. Petersburg. For about 2 million rubles. the city sold five plots with a total area of ​​5.5 hectares - from 0.5 to 2.3 hectares each. The names of the buyers are not disclosed - they will become known only within a month after the conclusion of the contracts.

Coca-Cola and Procter&Gamble became friends against PepsiCo Two giants of the consumer market - Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble (P&G) - decided to jointly provide their customers with juices and snacks. Yesterday they announced the creation of a company with sales of $4.2 billion. Shares in the new company, which does not yet have a name, will be distributed equally.

Chairman of the State Construction Committee of Russia Anvar SHAMUZAFAROV answers questions from the Vremya Novostey newspaper. -- How many people, according to your calculations, will be able to receive benefits for housing and utilities? -- Help will be provided only to those who specifically request it. According to statistics, about 25% of the country's population should apply for subsidies. For comparison: in 1999, 7.5% applied, and in 2000, even less - only 7% of the Russian population.

Three Russian oligarchs - Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska and Alexander Mamut - yesterday for the first time awarded one hundred academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences. As Mr. Mamut told reporters, the idea to create a Foundation for the Promotion of Domestic Science came to him at the beginning of last year. He discussed it with Oleg Deripaska, and he, in turn, with Roman Abramovich.

Belgrade is afraid that Moscow will slam the gas valve Serbia lives poorly without Russian gas, but the republic is unable to pay for its supplies. Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic arrived in Moscow last night with this message, who will meet with his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kasyanov, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, Industry Minister Alexander Dondukov, State Duma Speaker Gennady Seleznev and leaders of political parties during a three-day visit.

The size of pensions once again clashed the interests of the Duma and the government. Yesterday, the Duma members approved in the second reading an amendment to the law on calculating pensions, fixing the value of the individual pensioner coefficient. Representatives of the government and the president in the Duma tried in vain to persuade deputies not to do this - the amendment developed by the Duma Committee on Social Policy received 298 votes in favor.

Through restructuring Deputy General Director of the Interros holding Sergei Aleksashenko yesterday explained to the public why the company wants to give the state a large stake in Perm Motors JSC (PM). It turns out that Interros is breaking into the Latin American market in such an unusual way. Interros is a major shareholder of the PM holding, which specializes in the design and production of aircraft and space engines, as well as gas pumping and gas generating stations.

NATO Secretary General George ROBERTSON's visit to Russia ended yesterday. Before leaving, he answered questions from Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent Ekaterina LABETSKAYA. — Today there is a lot of talk about the possibility of Russia joining NATO as a means of overcoming existing differences. Why doesn't NATO just invite Russia? -NATO does not invite you to membership. NATO is contacted with a request for admission. If Russia approaches us, we will consider the issue of its membership.

Rosgosstrakh begins payments on pre-reform insurance policies By the end of February, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov may sign a government decree on the procedure for determining the compensation scheme for so-called pre-reform (concluded before January 1, 1992) life insurance policies. The general director of Rosgosstrakh, Alexey Golovkov, announced this yesterday. The federal budget allocates 2 billion rubles for insurance compensation.

Yesterday, a representative office of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSU) opened in Rostov for the Southern Federal District. This is already the second, after the North-Western, district branch of the VSS. According to the president of the union, Igor Yurgens, similar structures will soon appear in all federal districts. On the ground, the VSS intends to engage in the fight against any manifestations of regional separatism. As Mr.

The government begins patriotic education of citizens The emerging return of state leadership to a patriotic beginning has become a reality. At least on paper.

Who will show the Russian football championship is again unclear There are less than three weeks left before the start of the Russian Football Championship, but there is still no clarity about the broadcasts of the national championship matches. On the one hand, two leading TV channels, ORT and RTR, have already planned to show the matches, on the other hand, not all clubs have yet decided who to transfer their television rights to.

Three dinosaur eggs from the Mesozoic era were seized by border guards of the Trans-Baikal regional department of the Federal Border Guard Service on the Beijing-Moscow train. On February 1, at the Naushki station on the Russian-Mongolian border, warrant officers Valery Mikhalyukov and Nikolai Usoltsev found 15 “fragments of unknown origin” in the Beijing-Moscow train. The border guards did not find the owner of the cargo.

Foreign ice cream makers want revenge After the crisis, domestic ice cream almost completely replaced imported ice cream. Western companies have also reduced production at Russian factories. However, the Russians missed out on their happiness, and foreigners, wanting to regain the favor of our sweet tooth, went on the attack. Having united, Russian manufacturers are not going to give up. It looks like the war is going to be protracted.