President Had a telephone conversation with the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. During the conversation, the heads of state discussed current issues of bilateral relations, including issues of cooperation in the fuel and energy sector. An exchange of views on regional issues also took place. Held a working meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, during which plans for the government's legislative activities for the first half of 2004 were discussed.

The state intends to purchase defense products in series Tomorrow the government will consider the draft state defense order for next year. It is planned to allocate 341.2 billion rubles for it. This is 14% of the budget expenditures and 40% of funds going to national defense, security and law enforcement. The current main document for the defense-industrial complex is unique in many ways.

Boris Aleshin inspected the Ulyanovsk aircraft plant Deputy Prime Minister Boris Aleshin yesterday found out at the Ulyanovsk aircraft plant "Aviastar-SP" why aircraft have not yet been built there, which, in accordance with the contractual obligations of the enterprise, should already be sent to China.

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine will discuss it in Kerch Today Vladimir Putin arrives on a one-day visit to Ukraine to meet with President Leonid Kuchma. The negotiations, however, will take place not in the Ukrainian capital, but in Kerch.

Recently, the pilgrimage of Czech football players, hockey players and coaches to Russia has acquired a truly wide scale. Until recently, Czech stars moved only to Western countries, but in the past year the main trade route ran to the east. Why suddenly such interest in our country and why has it become so attractive to Czechs who want to live like a European?

The draft state educational standard was approved The key document for the secondary general education system was approved yesterday by members of the joint board of the relevant ministry and the Russian Academy of Education. Experts have approved a new state standard that defines the minimum content of basic educational programs, the maximum volume of teaching load, requirements for the level of graduates’ training and duration of study.

The priority task of military reform is to equip the Russian army and navy with modern weapons and military equipment (WME). Money for rearmament is directed by the state sometimes even to the detriment of social provisions. Over the past three years alone, costs for the development, purchase and repair of weapons and military equipment have more than tripled. Despite this, the effect is far from expected. No more than 20% of developments are implemented.

The project promises to be profitable The regiment of Russian-Kazakh media has arrived. After “Russian Radio. Kazakhstan” and “ORT-Kazakhstan” began to function on the territory of Kazakhstan, the creation of the television project “NTV-Kazakhstan” was announced yesterday. On the Russian side, the NTV television company is taking part in it, which owns 20% of the new company. 80% of the shares in the new structure belong to Rauan Media Group, created by CJSC National Company Kazmunaigas.

The World Junior Hockey Championship starts On Friday, the only tournament in the international calendar starts in Finland, which begins on the Christmas holidays, and the winner and runners-up become known in the new year. For two seasons in a row, the Russian national team, made up of players under the age of 20, has been giving hockey fans victories, opening the year on a positive note.

Vladimir Putin will take very little from oil workers This is the second time in the last few days that President Vladimir Putin has addressed the topic of excess profits of Russian corporations from the use of natural resources. Initially, he discussed this problem in great detail during a live television broadcast on December 18. Yesterday, speaking at a meeting of the board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, he returned to it again.

The mayor promises to prevent the redistribution of property for monuments Moscow authorities are counting on victory in a protracted dispute with the Ministry of Property over the ownership of one and a half thousand historical buildings in the center of the capital. For now, this conflict is suspended - the parties agreed to maintain the status quo until the adoption of the corresponding federal law.

The operation to rescue the Turkish car ferry Selcuk Express, carried out on the Black Sea since December 19, ended in failure. On Monday evening, the ship sank at a point 65 miles from the port of Sochi and 90 miles from the port of Trabzon. On October 19, Selcuk Express operated its next flight on the Trabzon-Sochi line.

The two largest exchanges may turn into one Rumors have leaked to the press about a possible merger of the two largest trading platforms in the United States - the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ electronic trading system. As you know, shares of high-tech companies are traded on NASDAQ, and shares of classical economics enterprises are traded on NYSE.

Forecast for the coming days In the next 24 hours, cold air will occupy the central regions of Russia. In the north and northeast, the temperature at night will drop in some places to -23°C, in the daytime to -7...-12°C. On Wednesday, winter in the center of Russia will still last, but the air temperature with the western, south-western wind will rise slightly, at night to -9...-14oC, in the east during the day to -3...- 8oC.

Even in an advertising newsletter you can find a real diamond It’s time to open a diamond mine in the landfills of the Dutch town of Apeldoorn. Somewhere there, in garbage heaps, lie several dozen perfectly cut diamonds, indifferently thrown away by local residents. The culprit behind the “burial of diamonds” was the owner of a jewelry store, Johan de Boer. His business had recently turned 10 years old, and the jewelry dealer intended to celebrate this modest anniversary in style.