The return of refugees to Chechnya will now be handled by a special group in the government commission for the restoration of the republic. Minister for Chechnya Vladimir Elagin announced this yesterday in Grozny. “All refugees who left Chechnya during the anti-terrorist operation must be returned to the republic by the end of 2001,” he emphasized. The special group will work according to the plan approved at yesterday's off-site meeting of the government commission.

90 years since the birth of Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. was born on May 27, the same day as Christopher Lee and one day after Peter Cushing. Actors who occupy an equally honorable place in the pantheon of horror films.

Benefits for individual investors in the stock market may return One of the most effective tools for attracting citizens' "stocking savings" to the stock market is preferential taxation of transactions with securities. The Ministry of Finance also understands this. However, the second part of the Tax Code (TC), which came into force at the beginning of the year, caused great concern among market participants. They believed that individuals would not appear on the market for a long time.

An exhibition of achievements of film productions from the CIS and Baltic countries has begun The Forum of National Cinematographs of the CIS and Baltic Countries is being held for the fifth time. This is the first micro-anniversary. The second anniversary date is the tenth anniversary of the CIS. Therefore, this year, contrary to usual, the forum takes place before the Moscow Film Festival and is an independent event.

Yuri Petrov was fired from the President's Investment Corporation Vladimir Putin made a personnel decision that significantly changes the Russian business landscape. According to the Vremya Novostey newspaper, the head of state, by his decree, dismissed the chairman of the State Investment Corporation, a former member of the CPSU Central Committee, Yuri Petrov.

Israeli fighters yesterday shot down a light Lebanese Cessna aircraft that violated Israeli airspace. The body of the pilot, identified as Lebanese-Armenian Stefan Nikolyan, was found among the wreckage of the plane 50 km north of Tel Aviv. “The Israeli pilots gave him signals and even fired warning shots, but there was no reaction, so the decision was made to shoot him down,” an Israeli army spokesman said.

Russian military personnel in Georgia were obliged to pay in lari The Georgian parliament has decided that the only means of payment that can be used by military personnel of the four Russian military bases stationed in the country should be the Georgian currency lari.

Nine Russian museums received yesterday a gift from the Sheremetyevo customs office of antique valuables, detained at various times as contraband, the value of which, according to government estimates, is about 400 thousand rubles. These are Russian and foreign books of the 17th-20th centuries, catalogues, reproductions, postcards, lithographs, coins, geographical maps, etc.

The CIS Collective Security Treaty in action The Yerevan residence of Vladimir Putin, who arrived in the capital of Armenia yesterday evening to participate in the meeting of heads of state - members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST), became the Reception House of the Ministry of Security.

The government decides what to do with Rem Vyakhirev The government will decide tomorrow how state representatives on the Gazprom board of directors will vote next Wednesday on the issue of extending the powers of board chairman Rem Vyakhirev, whose contract expires on May 31. This was reported yesterday by AFP, citing a statement by a high-ranking Kremlin official to Western journalists.

In the Kurgan region, the search for Vladimir Kirsanov, a well-known journalist in the region, editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper “Kurganskie Vesti”, has been going on for the second week. He disappeared on May 17, leaving for work in the morning. An employee was waiting for Kirsanov at the editorial office, whom he had warned the day before that they would have to hold a series of business meetings.

Evgeniy Nazdratenko is a constant factor in the life of the Far East The heavenly life that was supposed to come to Primorye after the February resignation of Evgeniy Nazdratenko did not happen. Instead of the promised milk rivers with jelly banks, an election campaign came, which became the dirtiest in the entire history of Primorye. Sometimes they come back It’s no secret that Yevgeny Nazdratenko made the decision to resign at the convincing request of the Kremlin.

The quality of Sonnet (CDMA mobile communications) services deteriorated as a result of a failure on Tuesday evening. 12 base stations (out of more than 100 operating in the network) transmitting and receiving mobile phone signals have failed. With the help of the technical support service of Sonet's main partner - the American Lucent Technologies - the network was completely restored within 14 hours after the accident.

The Leningrad region was the first to surrender Gazprom's subsidiary, Petersburgregiongaz, became the owner of 50.2% of Lenoblgaz shares, buying up small blocks of shares belonging to various legal entities. The general director of Petersburgregiongaz, Valentin Kazachenkov, told a correspondent of the Vremya Novostey newspaper yesterday. His company shared Lenoblgaz with the Leningrad region (15%) and the Russian Federal Property Fund (about 32%).

Employees of the Department for Combating Crimes in the Sphere of High Technologies (Department “R”) of the Moscow City Internal Affairs Directorate managed to neutralize a group of professional hackers.