Experts believe that the “president’s new weapon” is hypersonic cruise missiles The General Staff summed up yesterday the preliminary results of the strategic command and staff training (CST) “Security 2004”. Its scale continues to impress. As Colonel-General Yuri Baluevsky, First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, told reporters, at one of the last stages of training, units of the Volga-Ural and Siberian military districts were transferred to the North Caucasus district.

Russia refuses to join the Kyoto agreement under pressure Presidential Adviser on Economic Affairs Andrei Illarionov yesterday seriously redrew the program of the international forum, at which the prospects for Russia's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as attracting investment in energy-efficient projects, were again discussed.

There is complete clarity in the regular season There are only ten rounds left before the end of the regular season in the Super League. According to the laws of the genre, the tension in the tournament should reach its climax right now. But, alas, the situation now is such that the championship can safely end even today. There will be no more major changes anyway. All key questions have already been answered. The composition of the Cup eight and the duo of outsiders are also clear.

Oil workers complain to the prime minister about high prices for metallurgists This week, a confrontation began between large oil and gas companies and metallurgists. The reason for the war is another increase in pipe prices by 28-32%, while a year ago it was 22%.

Fitch believes poor results from small banks will accelerate consolidation The rating agency Fitch Ratings yesterday published a preliminary analysis of the performance of Russian banks in 2003 according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS). “The largest credit institutions with deeply diversified businesses are likely to demonstrate good or at least acceptable performance.

In Moscow they will show European jazz of the 21st century in half with ours At the Moscow House of Music, a concert by the ensemble “Second Approximation” with horn player Arkady Shilkloper and dialogues with the press presented a new concert cycle “European Jazz - 21st Century”. This cycle should become one of the most important events on the local improvisational scene, limited on the one hand by club formats, and on the other by festival formats.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities Evgeny TROFIMOV told Vremya Novostey correspondent Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA about how, in his opinion, interethnic relations in Russia can be improved. -- Lately, Russia has been shuddering with eerie frequency from bloody stories caused by ethnic hatred. Do you understand the reasons for this social disease? - If we talk about skinheads, then there is no visible villain or some other force behind them.

Aeroflot restructured relations with agents Starting in March, Aeroflot will stop paying commissions to its Moscow agents - the company hopes to increase its income in this way. Travel agency employees believe that this measure will bring losses to both them and the airline itself, and will create queues at Aeroflot ticket offices. Yesterday, Aeroflot commercial director Evgeny Bachurin spoke about how the company intends to rebuild its relationships with agents.

Viktor Yushchenko is a popular Ukrainian politician, head of the opposition national democratic bloc “Our Ukraine”. He is a real rival of the candidate from the party in power in the 2004 presidential elections. In an interview with the Vremya Novostey newspaper, Viktor YUSHCHENKO comments on the pre-election situation in Ukraine. -- Ukrainian presidential parties are preparing to sign an agreement on nominating a single candidate. Is the opposition ready to nominate its own single candidate?

For the second year in a row, Torpedo-Metallurg is radically updated before the start of the season. Last year, the club found a new owner, who became Norilsk Nickel, and, having paid off its debts, quickly began forming a roster. This season, changes are again expected in the life of Torpedo-Metallurg. And again it all started with the formation of an almost new team, headed by head coach Valery Petrakov.

The next meeting of the Federal Competition Commission for Television and Radio Broadcasting will take place on February 25. On the agenda is the question of who will broadcast on five new FM frequencies on the Moscow airwaves. Such competitions always cause increased activity among media market players. FM frequency in Moscow and the region is highly valued. With a competent approach to business, this is both a serious commercial resource and an instrument of influence.

St. Petersburg firefighters had to break the ice on the Moika yesterday to put out the fire that engulfed the Library named after. Alexandra Blok, whose building is located in the very center of St. Petersburg, a few hundred meters from Palace Square. The fire was assigned the highest, fifth number of complexity. Due to severe frost, fire hydrants froze, and firefighters had to take water directly from the river, which, fortunately, is located literally under the walls of the book depository.

The first step towards Georgia's accession to NATO was the appointment of a civilian Minister of Defense. He became 37-year-old professional diplomat Gela BEZHUASHVILI, who served for several years as deputy head of the military department for international relations. The new Georgian Defense Minister gave his first interview after taking office to the Russian newspaper Vremya Novostei. —On Sunday you are leaving with the President of Georgia for the United States.

The jury dropped most of the charges against the participants in the pogrom in Yasenevo In the Moscow City Court yesterday, a jury announced a verdict in the case of the first large-scale nationalist demonstration in the capital's history - the pogrom at the Yasenevsky market on April 21, 2001. The assessors found proven participation in the mass riots of only three of the five defendants - Andrei Pochukaev, Valery Rusakov and Evgeniy Serzhantov.

Andrey Klishas was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosbank. Yesterday at the board meeting it was also decided to combine the posts of chairman of the board of directors and president of the bank. In this position, Mr. Klishas replaced Evgeny Ivanov, who is expected to head the gold mining company Norilsk Nickel, which is being formed on the basis of Polyus CJSC (the Vremya Novostey newspaper wrote about this on February 17).