Abkhazia temporarily withdrew from the negotiation process Abkhazia made a significant demarche and at the last moment refused to meet with the Georgian side today in Geneva. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the unrecognized republic, Sergei Shamba, in an interview with VN, explained this by saying that there is no need to “duplicate” the negotiation process.

The big European “troika” represented by Great Britain, Germany and France has already been nicknamed “the directorate” by opposition-minded European countries. Today they don’t like the word “directory”, and tomorrow they won’t like the word “constitution”, French journalists sarcastically about the so-called small countries that reacted painfully to today’s summit of the big European “troika” in Berlin.

President I sent greetings to the participants and guests of the All-Russian Forum dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the student movement. “It is important that today’s students continue the best traditions of their predecessors and are actively looking for new forms of development of the “construction brigade” movement.

The shareholders of Slavneft (TNK-BP and Sibneft) have finally agreed on the principles of division of the company and now the licenses of the main production enterprise of Slavneft - Megionneftegaz, which accounts for about 90% of the holding's total production, will be reissued into two specially created companies, one of which will come under the control of TNK-BP, the second - Sibneft.

In the investigation into the causes of the tragedy at the water park, all versions have been “reanimated” again The investigation into Saturday's tragedy at the capital's Transvaal water park yesterday took on a very intriguing character.

Investment Bank opens an office in Moscow Merrill Lynch is one of the last world-class investment banks to decide to open a permanent representative office in Russia. The bank’s Moscow office will begin operating in the coming months at 31 Novinsky Boulevard. “We are targeting the second quarter of this year,” a representative of Merrill Lynch’s London office told the Vremya Novostei newspaper.

Luzhkov defends Moscow healthcare from the feds The discussion of the work of the Moscow Health Department at yesterday's meeting of the capital's government began with a minute of silence for those killed in Transvaal Park. However, the mayors did not intend to evaluate the actions of Moscow doctors during the recent tragedy, as well as the organization of the work of the city ambulance service during previous terrorist attacks, which caused many criticisms.

The Klitschko brothers are ready to replace the Englishman on the boxing throne Briton Lennox Lewis voluntarily vacated his place as WBC world heavyweight champion. This title remains vacant for now, and will remain so at least until the end of April. A title fight between Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko and South African boxer Corrie Sanders is scheduled around this time. The WBC management gave the duelists 12 days to determine the final date of the fight.

It's rush hour on the international calendar. This week is the busiest in the international tennis calendar. It is the only one in 2004, during which three ATP and WTA tournaments are held at once. The Russians have not yet won singles titles this season, and our girls have a very real chance to achieve victory at the competition in Memphis (USA) - here Vera Zvonareva is “seeded” number one, and Maria Sharapova is number three.

Tomorrow the entire “progressive world community” will celebrate the birthday of “the great Turkmenbashi”. The dictator for life will turn 64 years old, and the people, freed from work on this day, will celebrate “flag day.” Among the most dear guests will be the Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko. It was announced that the Russian VIP lady will be given a reception by “the very”... Of course, Ms.

A mega cellular operator will appear in the United States Forty-one billion dollars - at this mark the battle for the third largest American cellular telephony operator AT&T Wireless ended. This price was proposed by the winner of the tender and competitor of AT&T Wireless - Cingular. Since both companies operate on the same TDMA and GSM-1900 standards, the deal will result in the formation of the largest mobile operator in the United States.

Berlin, Paris and London prepared an original dish for the European Union Today in Berlin there will be a meeting between German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac. At first glance, it is a rather ordinary event, of which there have been many in the past.

The authors of the law summed up the first results Yesterday in Moscow they celebrated the anniversary of the bankruptcy law, designed to prevent the criminal redistribution of property. The “parents” - the Federal Service for Financial Recovery and Bankruptcy (FSFR) and the Duma Committee on Property - are convinced that they have the right to be proud of the “baby”. The number of bankruptcies decreased over the year, and the amount of repaid debt, on the contrary, increased significantly.

Regions will receive money from the center according to the rules From now on, regions will receive budget loans to eliminate cash gaps, that is, to cover temporary shortfalls of income, according to uniform rules. Yesterday they were approved by the government.

The development of domestic astronautics is paid mainly from abroad To some extent, yesterday’s speech to journalists by the Director General of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, Yuri Koptev, was a reproach to the country’s authorities. However, unlike his previous press conferences, Mr. Koptev did not put forward direct financial demands on the government, but limited himself to a very transparent hint.