The Ministry of Finance begins reform of interbudgetary relations A means has been found to strengthen the Russian power vertical. According to presidential officials, such a means is local self-government (LSG), which, contrary to generally accepted opinion, is not at all outside this very vertical.

The gubernatorial elections in the Tula region will still take place next Sunday. The current governor, Vasily Starodubtsev, will compete with the General Director of Tsentrgaz JSC, Viktor Sokolovsky. This is the decision of the regional election commission. As reported in the regional election commission, the registered candidate for the post of governor of the Tula region, Andrei Samoshin, withdrew his candidacy in accordance with the law (no later than 3 days before the vote).

The organizers of the notorious Khoper financial pyramid were found guilty yesterday by the Tagansky Court in Moscow. One of the co-founders of the Khoper group of companies, Lia Konstantinova, will have to spend four years in a colony (the court sentenced her to eight years and set the start of her sentence to August 1997, when she was taken into custody). The general director of the investment company Khoper-Invest, Oleg Suzdaltsev, was also sentenced to four years in prison.

Several heads of the administration of the town of Elektrostal near Moscow were arrested by officers of the Department of Economic Crimes of the Moscow Region Main Internal Affairs Directorate and the local Department of Economic Crimes.

This year marks the seventh anniversary of the Bulat Okudzhava Friends Club at the State Literary Museum, where fans of the poet meet and materials about his work are collected. The club was born in 1994. At one of the literary evenings, museum employee Lev Shilov spoke about recordings of the poet’s speeches stored in the museum collections. Questions and suggestions from those gathered gradually developed into an organizational meeting. We decided to meet monthly.

The head of the Media-Most holding, Vladimir Gusinsky, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station yesterday that he had decided to sell all his NTV shares. “The company in its current form and with the new current management is of no interest to me as a shareholder. It is obvious to me that with the departure of most of the journalists who were the face of the company, NTV no longer has any attractiveness for me,” said Mr. Gusinsky.

Travel agencies are afraid of disruption of May trips due to the fault of embassies The Russian tourist is accustomed to spending the week of rest given by the May holidays under a sun that is more gentle than in his native Uryupinsk. So on pre-holiday days, approaches to some consulates resemble scenes of Suvorov crossing the Alps: couriers storm the windows for handing over and issuing documents.

Indians will lead anti-globalists to the Summit of the Americas Until now, the only battle near the walls of the city of Quebec, the capital of the Canadian province of the same name, was the battle between the British and the French on September 13, 1759. France was defeated and soon lost almost all of its territories in North America. A much larger battle is expected in Quebec tomorrow.

Football. Tournament among teams of parliaments and governments of the CIS countries. Sochi. April 19--22. The fifth anniversary tournament, sponsored by Philip Morris, Diadora and Ost-Alco, will be attended by teams from the State Duma of Russia, the governments of Moscow and St.

A joint commission of the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) and the Russian Ministry of Defense has completed an investigation into the Gazelle helicopter crash, which resulted in the death of four people on June 2, 2000, including the famous ophthalmologist Svyatoslav Fedorov.

Until the end of 2001, the Agency for the Restructuring of Credit Institutions (ARCO) will sell its controlling stakes in Investbank, AvtoVAZbank, Kuzbassugolbank and Peter the First Bank. This decision was made yesterday by the ARCO Board of Directors. As the agency told the Vremya Novostei newspaper, all these banks have positive capital, and therefore the starting price for selling the shares determines their nominal value.

The working group under the State Council on the reform of the electric power industry is finishing its work on a report to Vladimir Putin. As a source in the presidential administration told the Vremya Novostei newspaper, the final consultations on the text are being held today, and next week the head of the group, Tomsk Governor Victor Kress, will hand over the report to Mr. Putin.

The Cannes Film Festival has announced its program The hearts of the selectors of all festivals in the world, which, by the way, are more numerous than there are days in the year, were again pinched with black-and-white envy. At a press conference on April 18, the organizers announced the program of the 54th Cannes Film Festival, the most prestigious event in the European film world. Everything is perfect.

The government approved a bill to combat money laundering This couldn't help but happen. The draft law on combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime, despite all its imperfections, was generally approved by the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday and will be sent to the Duma at the end of the month.

The World Bank will spend $150 million to reconstruct the president's homeland In May 2003, St. Petersburg will celebrate its tricentenary. The World Bank will make a significant contribution to the preparation of the celebrations. World Bank Director for Russia Julian Schweitzer visited St. Petersburg yesterday, where he talked with Governor Vladimir Yakovlev about a new loan for the reconstruction of the city.