President Received the Chinese Minister of Defense Cao Gangchuan, who heads the intergovernmental commission on military-technical cooperation. Vladimir Putin expressed hope that the agreements reached by the Chinese minister in Russia will find support from Chinese leaders. Signed a decree releasing Nikolai Spassky from his duties as Russian Ambassador to Italy and San Marino due to his transfer to another job.

The Central Election Commission of Russia upset the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and pleased the People's Party At yesterday's meeting, the Russian Central Election Commission prepared two news for the two parties - bad and good.

A new type of transport will appear in the city The Moscow Metro promises to make a New Year's gift to residents of the Northern and Southern Butovo districts. On December 27, the first light metro line in the capital will be opened there. The head of the Moscow Metro, Dmitry Gaev, announced this yesterday at a press conference. According to him, travel time from the outskirts of Butovo to the center of Moscow will be reduced from an hour and a half to 40 minutes.

Boris Akunin's new novel is written in the kwaidan genre Boris Akunin's previous novels always had a definition thrown in by the author - the detectives were "high-society", "decadent", "hermetic". “The Diamond Chariot,” a new novel in the Fandorin series, just published by the Zakharov publishing house, does without explanation. It is left to the reader to understand that the qualifying word should be the Japanese word - "kwaidan". Kwaidan is a genre, Japanese ghost stories.

Channel One DECEMBER 22 , MONDAY 6.00 Good morning 9.00, 12.00, 15.00, 18.00 News 9.20 “DETECTIVE SHAFT”. Action 11.10 “Handcuffs for the surgeon.” Doc. detective 11.40 Kolobkov conducts the investigation 12.20 “GOOD MORNING.” Comedy 14.00 City of Women 15.20 Guess the melody (S) 15.50 “SHORE OF A DREAM”. Series 16.50 Big wash 18.30 Joke after joke 19.00 “LAND OF LOVE, LAND OF HOPE.” Series 20.00 Wait for me 21.00 Time 21.30 "SITE".

Pakistan is ready to abandon the demand for a referendum on self-determination in Kashmir in accordance with UN resolutions adopted in the late 40s. President Pervez Musharraf announced this yesterday, intending to take a “flexible and reasonable position on Kashmir.” The dispute over the ownership of Kashmir led to three wars between Pakistan and India.

Forecast for the coming days On Friday, the cold front will be replaced by warm, light snow, daytime temperatures will be -1...-6°C. On Saturday there will be light precipitation, the temperature during the day will be -2...+3оС. On Sunday, cloudy, with clearings, light snow, temperature at night -1...-6оС, during the day about 0оС. In the capital and region on December 19 cloudy, with clearings, light snow in the afternoon, icy roads, maximum temperature -1...-3оС, southwest wind, 5--10 m/s.

Oil prices set another record Oil prices have reached levels not seen since the end of the Iraq War. Yesterday, Brent crude on the London Exchange under futures contracts for January cost $31.11 per barrel, having risen in price by $1.02 (2.5%) per day. According to experts, the latest increase in prices is caused by a drop in oil reserves in America, as well as the ever-growing needs of China, which is buying up all available raw materials on the market.

CLUBS Bobby Watson (USA). The last Moscow concert of the famous free jazz alto saxophonist. December 19 at Le Club , 20.00. Forbidden Beat.

The government, sadly parting with functions The next stage of ministries and departments losing their powers is extremely painful. New proposals from the government commission on administrative reform, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Boris Aleshin, caused a strong reaction at yesterday's cabinet meeting. The discussion lasted for two hours.

The Prosecutor General of Turkmenistan turned out to be a drug baroness The irreparable happened in Turkmenistan. The main guardian of the rule of law in the country, Prosecutor General Kurbanbibi Atajanova, found herself at the center of a huge scandal. On December 17, she was taken into custody right in the meeting room of the Cabinet of Ministers. “Suddenly” something was discovered that the country “didn’t know” about, as it turned out, only the “great Turkmenbashi” himself. Ms.

Mkhatovskaya "The Last Victim" - the first big premiere of the season “An old man, in love with a young widow, tries, under the guise of patronage and guardianship, to separate her from the young man she loves, and succeeds. A young man is set up with a girl, passing her off as a rich bride; he gets carried away and cheats on the widow.

An exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Britain has opened in the Kremlin The exhibition is built with enviable care. The organizers (the Ministry of Culture and the Moscow Kremlin museums) tactfully remind us: high diplomacy is necessary not only in politics, but also in museum life. By the way, in addition to Russian museums (Historical, Pushkin Museum, Hermitage, Naval Museum in St.

Gazprom management adjusted the export forecast in the budget and cut dividends The Gazprom board yesterday approved a revised draft budget, which will be presented to the board of directors at a meeting on December 25. In general, Gazprom’s financiers listened to the recommendations of the government, which a month ago, at the instigation of the Ministry of Economic Development, criticized Gazprom’s plans for the next year. Now the company's final deficit is estimated at 17.5 billion rubles.

Intelligence is a very closed sphere. A carelessly spoken word there can ruin a major business, or even cost a person’s life.