The marriage contract is the main weapon of Sverdlovsk politicians The campaign for elections to the Duma of the Sverdlovsk region ends today. Voters will finally breathe a sigh of relief - behind the painful weeks when candidates went to great lengths in the fight for their votes. In August next year, residents of the Sverdlovsk region will have to elect a governor. The Duma campaign is just a warm-up.

While the President of Sberbank of Russia Andrei Kazmin was participating in the Russian-German forum in Weimar, clouds slowly began to gather over his head in his homeland. Informed sources in power structures speak unofficially, and minority shareholders of the bank speak quite openly about the need to terminate Mr. Kazmin’s powers ahead of schedule.

The timing of marriage in Russia may be clarified On Tuesday, the State Duma Council considered a bill establishing the procedure and conditions for marriage for spouses aged 14 to 16 years. After consideration, the bill was sent for the preparation of comments and proposals to the president, the government, the Federation Council and the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Russian gymnast Olga Korbut will not stand trial for stealing food from a supermarket. Korbut was detained by store security on January 31 of this year, and unpaid groceries worth $19.35 were found in her bag. The gymnast herself explained this incident by her absent-mindedness, and not by self-interest.

Two antique violins, one of which may have been made by the famous master Antonio Stradivari, were discovered on Wednesday by employees of the Pskov Customs (North-West Customs Department). The tools were found during a routine customs inspection before crossing the border of a Latvian citizen traveling on the St. Petersburg-Riga train.

The Verkhovna Rada distributes seats A political marathon called “formation of a parliamentary majority” has begun in Ukraine. As a result of the elections to the Verkhovna Rada, no force received a numerical advantage, and now, in order to gain the 226 mandates necessary to pass the laws, the factions will have to enter into coalitions. The formal winner of the elections was the bloc of ex-Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko “Our Ukraine”, which received the most votes on the party lists.

Who will become the main producer of the RTR channel will become known, according to the newspaper Vremya Novostei, in the near future. After Alexander Akopov, who held the post of general director and actually acted as chief producer of RTR, left the channel in February of this year, the management of the VGTRK holding decided to separate functions.

The office of the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, confirmed a tabloid newspaper report that Charles's son and the Queen's grandson, Prince Harry, dabbled in drugs and alcohol, the BBC reports. The News of the World claimed the 17-year-old prince was taken to see a counselor at a drug treatment center after he admitted to regularly smoking marijuana at parties and drinking alcohol in a local pub.

The British branch of the notorious accounting firm Arthur Andersen has announced a merger with Deloitte & Touche UK. According to a mutual statement, both parties agreed that the partners and staff of Andersen's British divisions would go to their former competitors. The deal must be confirmed by government authorities. “Our customers have demonstrated their loyalty and now have confidence that they will be served by world-class professionals,” said Andersen UK managing director John Ormrad.

Yesterday in Tbilisi they expressed bewilderment over the unapproved stay in Adjara of the chief of staff of the North Caucasus Military District, Colonel General Vladimir Bulgakov, who was conducting an inspection of the 12th Russian military base. The press secretary of the President of Georgia, Kakha Imnadze, said that Eduard Shevardnadze only learned from media reports that the Russian military leader had been in Batumi for several days.

Former Volgograd vice-governor was repaid for peasant millions Former first deputy governor of the Volgograd region, 52-year-old Vladimir Lemyakin, was killed on Wednesday at the entrance of his house in Volgograd. One of the main versions of the assassination attempt is related to the work of an official. All three years while Mr. Lemyakin was in the post of vice-governor, a trail of scandals followed him.

Omsk and Yekaterinburg butchers are fighting for markets On April 11, the Central Court of Omsk rejected a claim by a minority shareholder of the Ekaterinburgsky Meat Plant against the management of the enterprise.

With the start of the new television season, which opens in September, the Kultura TV channel may begin broadcasting to Moscow and the Moscow region in full. This was stated yesterday by the deputy chairman of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, General Director of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Culture" Alexander Ponomarev. “I am sure that in the new television season in Moscow we will be broadcasting without Euronews.

Lukashenko would like to employ his former prime minister Today a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the union state of Russia and Belarus opens in Moscow. In Minsk they prepared especially carefully for the meeting. The Belarusian delegation intends to give a decisive battle on a number of union agreements. But the stumbling block remains the issue of levying indirect taxes.

Russian Coal accuses officials of violating the pact The tax police seized part of the property of Rostovugol OJSC, which is now being liquidated. General Director of Rostovugol Sergei Posylny believes that this violated the agreements on the peaceful restructuring of the largest coal mining company in Eastern Donbass.