The Yalta CIS summit was organized “wonderfully.” This immediately became clear to journalists. As soon as it became clear that the main event for the press - the final press conference - would be available to them only via television broadcast, the writing and filming fraternity came to the conclusion that the organizers had taken excellent care of them.

Anna Markova may not let Valentina Matvienko win in the first round The upcoming gubernatorial elections in St. Petersburg on Sunday should put an end to the protracted struggle for the president's hometown, which the Kremlin has been waging for more than three years with the local elite. The position of the favorite of the race, Plenipotentiary Representative Valentina Matvienko, is very strong, her rating is four to five times higher than that of her closest rival.

The Russian women's team claims gold at Euro 2003 The final tournament of the continental basketball championship among women's teams starts today in Greece. The championship matches will be held in three cities located on the Peloponnese peninsula less than a hundred kilometers from each other - Pyrgos, Amalias and Patras. The Russian team went to Hellas not only for an Olympic ticket, which all three medalists will receive, but also, above all, for gold medals.

Russia's main bomber crashed after repairs A strategic bomber Tu-160 of the Russian Air Force crashed in the Saratov region yesterday morning. According to preliminary data, during landing at an altitude of about 2 km, one of the plane’s engines caught fire, after which it exploded in the air in the vicinity of the city of Engels. All four crew members on board were killed.

Entrepreneurs fear the introduction of an “environmental” tax The Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs sharply disagreed with the Ministry of Natural Resources over how much and to whom factories should pay for environmental pollution.

There are changes in Russian-American energy cooperation The second US-Russian energy business summit kicks off in St. Petersburg on Sunday evening. The first took place a year ago in Houston, the oil capital of the United States and the birthplace of George Bush, and was remembered primarily for the fact that top officials of the world's largest oil and gas companies took part in it.

Anastasia Volochkova found a new enemy The conflict between Anastasia Volochkova and the management of the Bolshoi Theater received an unexpected continuation. At yesterday's press conference, the fired dancer, who hastily mastered the profession of politics, revealed the “evil genius” that is trying to destroy poor Odette. It turned out to be Alfa Bank, which is part of the theater’s board of trustees.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is reviewing its national security strategy as a new challenge in the Middle East. The key point of the audit may be Riyadh's acquisition of nuclear weapons. The London newspaper The Guardian wrote about this yesterday. She noted that this threat arises at a time when another crisis has reached its climax - around Iran's alleged nuclear programs.

Putin beats Bush The Washington-based Pew Research Center published the results of a survey of 16 thousand people in 20 countries. The survey showed that residents of Muslim countries generally have a positive attitude towards democracy, while in Western Europe they strive for greater independence from America. 71% of Russians and Turks, as well as 74% of Indonesians, 72% of Nigerians and Pakistanis fear a US attack.

In Rostov they allowed to have a yard of one hectare Residents of the Rostov region will be allowed to conduct agricultural business and not pay any taxes if their personal subsidiary plots occupy an area of ​​no more than a hectare. The legislative assembly of the Rostov region will introduce the corresponding amendments to the local law “On the regulation of land relations” this week.

Londoners joined Lokomotiv The main event of the second game day is a major home defeat of the favorite of our group, London Arsenal, from the number two favorite, Inter Milan. Who would have thought that the Milanese, who came to London without Vieri and Recoba, would be able to put the leader of the English championship on both shoulder blades. Even Arsene Wenger could not have foreseen such a scenario. And Hector Cooper probably didn’t expect that everything would end so well for his team.

So far, only “showmen” are vying for the post of mayor While city officials at all levels are preparing to organize the re-election of Yuri Luzhkov, the current mayor himself is in no hurry to register his candidacy with the Moscow City Election Commission, providing an opportunity for his potential opponents to make themselves known. True, so far there is no talk of serious competition in the struggle for the position of mayor of the Russian capital.

Blix blames the US and UK The threat to the Western civilized world from Iraq has been greatly exaggerated. This was stated yesterday by the former head of the UN inspector mission for the disarmament of Iraq, Hans Blix. According to him, the US and British authorities falsified the facts and made “their own interpretations” of intelligence data about Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction in order to justify the attack on Iraq.

Low harvest causes prices to rise Today, one of the most important issues for the Russian agro-industrial complex is the question of how the situation will develop on the grain market. This year is not making us happy. The area under grain crops in 2003 decreased by 12%, or 5.7 million hectares, and the main decrease in crops affected the main crop for the market - wheat.

Prime Minister He stated that the government decree approving the charter of Russian Railways (RZD) OJSC will be signed in the coming days . According to Mikhail Kasyanov, it is important that the company’s charter be approved in a short time so that the company is established on October 1, “thus it will be able to operate from the new tax quarterly period.” The Prime Minister noted that the government has not yet submitted candidates for the post of president of Russian Railways.