The heads of LUKOIL and Gazprom Vagit Alekperov and Alexey Miller at a meeting on Friday discussed the implementation of joint projects of the companies provided for by the general agreement on strategic partnership. In particular, at the meeting they discussed gas supplies from LUKOIL in the amount of up to 10 billion cubic meters per year starting in 2005 from the Nakhodkinskoye field to the Gazprom gas transportation system.

Secretary of State Powell to Perform a Parody of Ambassador Stevenson The United States intends to present to the public evidence that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and is hiding them from international inspectors in every possible way. On Wednesday, February 5, Secretary of State Colin Powell will make a report on this matter at the UN Security Council.

The idea of ​​a Russian exhibition megaforum was discussed in Moscow Russia's presence on the artistic map of the world is still minimal. Famous curators do not come here, large international Contemporary Art festivals are not held here.

Vladimir Putin congratulated the veterans and spoke with the governor Until the last moment, until the plane of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Russia arrived at Volgograd airport, residents and numerous guests of the hero city did not know whether the head of state would arrive for the celebrations on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad. They were waiting for the President in Volgograd.

The Russian team is below the medal list, but with a ticket to Athens For the third major official international tournament in a row, the handball players of the Russian men's team remain below the medal list. Having won gold medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, at subsequent world and continental forums our grenadiers were sometimes just a step away from getting on the podium, but each time they could not do it.

Kathleen Battle managed to surprise the Moscow public It was assumed that the appearance in Moscow of the capricious black prima donna and owner of one of the best operatic voices of the twentieth (at least) century, Kathleen Battle, could become a direct competitor to last year's Moscow concert of another majestic African-American woman, Jessie Norman. But there was another version of the development of events organized by the Krauterconcert agency - not so much sensational as scandalous.

Last week the deadline for submitting additional applications for the 2002/03 Champions League ended. Lokomotiv Moscow, which will continue its tournament journey on February 18 with a match against Italian Milan, has added three new players to its roster. Goalkeeper Platon Zakharchuk will wear number 50, defender Vladislav Khatazhenkov will wear number 51, and Costa Rican national team forward Winston Parks will wear number 52. Today Loko will leave for a training camp in Italy.

The road to acquiring Ruhrgas is open for the German energy concern E.on Düsseldorf energy giant E.on, whose main product is electricity, has won the battle for natural gas. The “battle” with opponents of his acquisition of the Essen gas company Ruhrgas lasted a full year and a half.

Russian lawyers have elected their boss Evgeniy Semenyako, head of the St. Petersburg Bar Association, former judge of the St. Petersburg City Court, was elected the main Russian lawyer on the night from Friday to Saturday. This is the most important result of the first All-Russian Congress of Lawyers, which took place in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions and lasted more than 12 hours.

The Ministry of Communications established new denominations of postage stamps from February 1. By order of the ministry, now the denomination of stamp “A” costs 3.7 rubles. used to send a simple letter, a stamp with a face value of “B” worth 3.7 rubles. -- simple cards. Previously, for sending a simple letter they paid 3.25 rubles, a simple card - 2.45 rubles. In 30 regions there are now increased tariffs, where sending correspondence costs 10-100% more than the basic tariff.

Last night, Garry Kasparov played the fourth game of his match against the Deep Junior computer chess program in New York. Before this match, the score in the six-game confrontation was equal. In the third meeting, after which a two-day break was announced in the match, Kasparov made a mistake on the 32nd move and was forced to admit defeat 36 moves and 3 hours 45 minutes after the start of the game. Experts called the Russian’s mistake ridiculous.

In London, Zakaev found himself between a drunk driver and a peeing passerby Last Friday, in a long series of criminal cases, at the Magistrates' Court on London's Bow Street, one was heard that some in Moscow hastened to call almost epoch-making.

Accused of stealing Turkmen millions returned to Moscow The authorities of Turkmenistan, as the Vremya Novostei newspaper learned, extradited back to Russia Murad Garabaev, a former employee of the Central Bank of Turkmenistan, accused by Ashgabat of involvement in the theft of $41 million from the country's budget. In October, at the request of Ashgabat, he was arrested in Moscow and handed over to the Turkmen special services. However, Mr. Garabaev's lawyers initiated an unprecedented scandal.

The festival in White Pillars draws a line under the era of film cinema This year the archival film festival in Belye Pillars was held for the seventh time and, contrary to expectations, it almost disappointed. It’s as if the supply of bright concepts and enticing topics has been exhausted.

The VimpelCom-Region company, a subsidiary of the VimpelCom company, engaged in the regional development of the Bee Line GSM cellular communication network, recently completed transactions to acquire a controlling stake in the largest Stavropol cellular operator Stavtelesot. Negotiations about its purchase took place for almost a year. The main problem was the purchase of a 41% stake in Stavtelesot from the local alternative operator Stavtelecom named after Kuzminov.