The verdict to Mikhail Kulikov, the son of the former deputy minister of internal affairs and head of the Moscow Region Central Internal Affairs Directorate, was handed down yesterday by the capital's Basmanny Intermunicipal Court. The court found him guilty of extortion, fraud, robbery, abuse of power and forgery.

Corruption scandal in Peru distracts voters from elections themselves Peruvian Prime Minister Javier Perez de Cuellar called on his compatriots to seriously think about the upcoming presidential elections on Sunday. According to sociologists, 25% of Peruvians still have not decided who they will vote for. Voters' attention is focused on the never-ending TV hit of recent months - “Vladivideo”.

China sees US moving 'in the right direction' Yesterday, the United States attempted to satisfy China's demands for recognition of responsibility for the ramming of a Chinese fighter jet by an American EP-3 Aries reconnaissance aircraft and subsequent landing at a Chinese airfield. Colin Powell expressed regret that the Chinese plane did not return and that the Chinese pilot was killed.

Volleyball. Super League. Men. April 7-8. 43--44th rounds. "Baltika" - "Iskra-RVSN", "MSTU-Luzhniki" - "Neftyanik", "UEM-Izumrud" - "Belogorye-Dynamo". The finalists of the Russian Volleyball Championship have two matches left to play in the regular season. It is already clear that in a series of up to three wins, UEM-Izumrud (Ekaterinburg) and the capital's MSTU-Luzhniki will play for 1-2 places. Incredibly, after 40 matches the teams have almost the same performance.

Valencia believes in success, while Deportivo hopes only for a miracle The first round of the Anglo-Spanish confrontation in the quarterfinals of the Champions League ended in victory for the British clubs. But if Valencia, having lost away to Arsenal with a score of 1:2, retains significant chances of success, then Deportivo, having lost away to modest Leeds with a big score of 0:3, can say goodbye to hopes of continuing the fight .

The British Council supports the best students from non-state schools The Information Service of Private Schools in Great Britain (ISIS) and the British Council held a competition among schoolchildren in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Samara “Discover the best in yourself.” The winners will go for a month in June-July 2001 to one of the boarding schools in England. This was the first time such a competition was held by the British Council.

The opposition demands that the president not violate the constitution Vice-Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, leader of the opposition socialist party Vakhtang Rcheulishvili initiated the collection of signatures of deputies for a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court against Eduard Shevardnadze. He claims that the president, while simultaneously heading the ruling Citizens' Union, is thereby violating laws that do not allow such combinations.

Severstal bought itself a little lobby St. Petersburg Industrial Construction Bank (PSB) and Metkombank from Cherepovets announced yesterday the start of integration. Metkombank, more than 80% of whose shares belong to the Severstal group, will transfer its business and branches to PSB, turning from the main settlement bank of the metallurgical giant into an agent for financing its target programs.

Kadyrov's new plenipotentiary will seek investment The head of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, yesterday appointed Adlan Magomadov as his deputy and representative of the republic under the Russian President. Shamil Beno, who held this position, became an adviser to the head of Chechnya on political issues.

Russian students explore new countries Over the past few years, exotic destinations such as Malta and Australia have become increasingly popular on the Russian study abroad market. People go to Malta mainly to attend language schools. And to Australia - to colleges and especially universities. Both Malta and Australia decided to expand their field of activity in Russia this year, carried out an advertising campaign and entered into agreements with many Russian companies.

A passenger airliner of the American airline Delta Airlines, flying from the United States to Japan, was forced to return back to the United States yesterday morning due to the refusal of the Russian authorities to allow it through its airspace. According to preliminary data, the incident occurred with a plane operating a regular flight Atlanta-Narita. There were 203 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

On Sunday, Evenkia will elect a governor. For the position of head of the administration of this autonomous region, a serious struggle has unfolded between two oil companies - YUKOS and Slavneft. Of the six contenders, Evgeny Vasiliev, a former federal inspector for Taimyr and Evenkia, and Boris Zolotarev, a former top manager of NK YUKOS, have a real chance of winning. Evgeniy Vasiliev is supported by the oil company Slavneft, one of the partners and at the same time competitors of YUKOS.

The State Duma approved the candidacies of five new auditors of the Accounts Chamber. They were Alexander Kushnar, Vladislav Ignatov, Nikolai Loktionov, Alexander Piskunov and Sergei Shokhin. Five audit vacancies, for which 15 candidates applied, will be created tomorrow, when the term of office of auditors chosen by the Duma in 1995 expires.

The Russian military has achieved restrictions on the right of certain categories of conscripts to defer from the army. Yesterday, the State Duma adopted in the third reading amendments to the laws “On Education” and “On Military Duty and Military Service.” According to this project, students of schools, vocational schools and technical schools will not be drafted into the army until they reach twenty years of age.

Hockey. Russian Championship. Playoff final. April 6 . Omsk. "Vanguard" -- "Metallurg" Mg. After Magnitogorsk Metallurg beat Avangard with a score of 5:2 in the fifth match of the final series, the Magnitogorsk hockey players had only one game left to win gold medals. However, the finalists will play their next match in Omsk, where the local public will support Avangard.