A tunnel will appear under Pushkinskaya Square The capital's authorities have launched another super-project, which threatens to turn into another scandal. Last Friday, the public urban planning council under the mayor of Moscow approved the project of a transport interchange on Pushkinskaya Square. The planned transport hub will appear at the intersection of Tverskaya Street with Strastnoy and Tverskoy Boulevards.

Russian gunsmiths are rushing to Brazil Last weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov visited the largest country in South America, Brazil. The head of Russian diplomacy reminded his Brazilian colleagues that “large states have a special responsibility for ensuring international security, which in modern conditions is indivisible.” Mr.

Sergei Sidorsky must provide “large stable acceleration” On Friday, the Belarusian parliament almost unanimously approved Sergei Sidorsky as prime minister. Out of 110 deputies, only 11 voted against. Since July, Mr. Sidorsky has been acting. head of government. Speaking to deputies, he promised that cooperation with Russia will remain a priority. In the very near future, the prime minister will have to complete negotiations with Gazprom on gas prices and the privatization of Beltransgaz.

The St. Petersburg City Court rejected the request of those accused of the murder of State Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova to transfer the case to a jury trial. The judges were guided by the fact that there is no jury institute in St. Petersburg now and it will be created only in 2004. And the consideration of the case on the merits is scheduled for December 29, 2003, and therefore the city court decided not to postpone the trial until the jury appears in the city.

Another regiment of the Strategic Missile Forces with a new complex went on duty In the 60th Tatishchevsky division of the Strategic Missile Forces, stationed in the Saratov region, last Sunday the fourth regiment, equipped with six Topol-M missile systems, was put on combat duty.

The Great Hall of the Conservatory may be closed Russian Minister of Culture Mikhail Shvydkoy ordered the leadership of the Conservatory to limit the use of the balcony of the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. According to the Interfax agency, the minister motivated this by the fact that the current state of the balcony poses a danger to people.

The Central Bank believes in a “more or less” stable dollar First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Oleg Vyugin on Friday reported on the monetary policy pursued by his department and the Ministry of Finance in 2003. According to Mr. Vyugin's estimates, by the end of the year the real effective exchange rate of the ruble against the basket of currencies will strengthen by about 5%, and against the dollar by about 20%. Inflation will not exceed the established 12%.

The Accounts Chamber was pleased with the work of VEB The results of eight audits of Vnesheconombank conducted by the Accounts Chamber this year indicate the high efficiency of its activities as an agent of the government for servicing external debt and an agent of the Russian Pension Fund for investing pension savings. On Friday, VEB Chairman Vladimir Chernukhin was personally informed about this by the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber, Sergei Stepashin.

US announces new military tactics in Afghanistan The United States has announced its intention to completely change security tactics in those areas of Afghanistan where Taliban militants have restored their dominance after the defeat they experienced in 2001. We are talking primarily about the south and southeast of the country.

They want to expel the mayor of Vladivostok from the party in power The mayor of Vladivostok, Yuri Kopylov, did not justify the trust of the United Russia party during the last elections to the State Duma and will be expelled from it before the New Year holidays. This statement was made on Thursday, December 18, by the political council of the regional branch of United Russia.

Italian food manufacturer Parmalat is close to bankruptcy The largest Italian manufacturer of drinks and food products Parmalat may go bankrupt. On Friday evening, the Milan Stock Exchange was forced to announce the suspension of the sale of the company's shares due to a sharp drop in its capitalization.

The American cruiser Philippines Sea detained two Arab ships and their crews of 21 people in the Arabian Sea on Saturday. About 70 kg of methamphetamine was found on one of the ships. At black market prices, the substance is worth about $3 million. The crew of another ship, seeing the cruiser approaching, threw about 200 bags overboard, presumably containing pure heroin. The operation was carried out as part of the fight against illegal financing of Al-Qaeda.

Gosstroy intends to regulate the entry of private owners into housing and communal services Gosstroy decided to restore order with the arrival of private companies in the housing and communal services sector.

The Rite of Spring was staged at the Russian Seasons Theater Five years ago, at the Russian Seasons Theater, “The Rite of Spring” was staged by butoh dance preacher Min Tanaka. “Russian Seasons” had existed for six years by that time; their permanent leader, former dancer of the Moiseev ensemble Nikolai Androsov, firmly led the dancing people along a proven commercial path: pop dances were crossed with folk dances and sold in Asian markets.

The President instructed the government to pay off debts to disabled people President Vladimir Putin promised Russian disabled people, if not to return the jobs lost over the past two years, then at least to compensate for the benefits that they were deprived of after the introduction of the new Tax Code in 2002. Last Friday, the head of state announced this at a meeting with representatives of public organizations of disabled people.