In Belarus, the entry of neighboring countries into NATO was perceived rather restrainedly, although official Minsk expressed some dissatisfaction with this matter. Acting Foreign Ministry press secretary Andrei Shuplyak told a Vremya Novostey correspondent: “We believe that at present there are no objective prerequisites for the expansion of the Alliance, much less for the movement of NATO armed forces to the eastern borders of the bloc.

The three-tier government is dealing with its bodies Debugging the mechanism of government work is still reminiscent of assembling a construction set, where each part is looking for a suitable place in size. Russians will see the final structure of their new government no earlier than May 9.

The second episode of the film “Don’t Even Think” on Moscow screens By all the laws of nature, the film “Don’t Even Think,” directed two years ago by debutant Ruslan Baltzer (who, in his own words, “had never done anything that was in any way connected with cinema before”), should have amused his friends and acquaintances of the film crew, flashed in a limited edition on video cassettes and gradually faded into oblivion, like most other amateur films of this kind.

Yesterday's admission to NATO of seven new members - Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia - caused a mixed reaction both in the Russian political and military establishment and in the expert community. Military columnist for the Vremya Novostei newspaper Nikolai POROSKOV asked well-known Russian analysts to comment on the new step in the process of NATO expansion to the east.

Boris Aleshin corrects the federal law The head of the Federal Agency for Industry, Boris Aleshin, said yesterday that his agency is preparing a bill that will allow foreign investors to acquire up to 49% of the capital of Russian aircraft manufacturing enterprises. In this regard, Mr. Aleshin made two somewhat strange remarks. On the one hand, he promised to pass the bill through the government and the State Duma within a year.

Horror letters are being sent across the Internet on behalf of MTS An email is being circulated on the Internet on behalf of a certain employee of the information security service of the Mobile Telesystems (MTS) company, Alexander Badnin. It talks about an epidemic of an unprecedented mobile virus that can break a telephone. The author of the letter requests that this information be sent to all recipients known to the recipient. The MTS company calls this message a stupid joke.

Americans ban Iraqi newspaper In Baghdad, on the instructions of the head of the US civil administration in Iraq, Paul Bremer, the popular weekly newspaper Al-Hauza An-Natiqa was closed. The Americans deprived her of her license for 60 days, seeing in her publications “calls for violence against coalition troops.” The newspaper is published by supporters of the radical Shiite imam Muqtada al-Sadr, known for his radical demands to end the occupation of Iraq.

Sir Peter Ustinov died in Switzerland at the age of 83. The famous British actor, director, and writer died of a mysterious disease that he contracted in January of this year in Thailand. Peter Ustinov was born in 1921 in London into a family of immigrants from Russia.

The first feeling from the March magazines: read - I don’t want to. Novel flood. Large prosaic works appeared in Znamya, and in October, and in the Urals, and in the New World . True, the local “Candidate” by Anatoly Azolsky is called a story, but we know that the events in any of his stories are enough for an epic. There really are enough of them. Rastignac from Pavlodar (though without a noble pedigree and appropriate illusions) conquers Moscow in the dying years of Soviet power.

The closest and most distant relatives will benefit from the inheritance By the end of this week, the State Duma Budget Committee must finalize with the Ministry of Finance the version of the chapter of the Tax Code on inheritance and donation. The committee’s verdict will determine what property will be subject to inheritance and gift taxes, what the tax rates will be, and most importantly, which relatives will be exempt from paying taxes on gifts and inheritance.

Karachay-Cherkessia reduces the number of ministries Karachay-Cherkessia was left without a government. It was dismissed by the head of the republic, Mustafa Batdyev. True, Prime Minister Ruslan Kazanokov retained his post. Yesterday his powers were confirmed by the new parliament of Karachay-Cherkessia, which met for the first meeting after the elections on March 14. Mr. Kazanokov has been instructed to form a new cabinet of ministers within a week.

Gennady Onishchenko mobilizes sanitary doctors to fight waste It turns out that the well-being of Russians is primarily threatened by garbage. In any case, it is by inspecting landfills and garbage dumps located near populated areas that Gennady Onishchenko is going to begin his activities as the head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Public Welfare. One of the first documents signed by Mr.

Motorists will face snow and ice at the end of the week Warm sunny days over the past week have begun to be taken for granted by Muscovites, but the cold snap that weather forecasters promise by the end of the week can be regarded as a cruel April Fool's joke. According to the Hydrometeorological Bureau of Moscow and the Moscow Region, closer to the weekend, winter will take revenge on spring: at night the thermometer can drop as much as minus 10-15 degrees.

President Minister of Health and Social Development Mikhail Zurabov informed Vladimir Putin about plans to organize children's summer holidays. “We plan to provide recreation for 7 million children and prepare 52 thousand children’s health camps. Since the beginning of the year, 553 million rubles have been allocated for these purposes,” the minister said. He also said that 100 thousand children have already been able to organize a holiday this year.

CLUBS "White prison". Duet of Yuri Matveev (guitar) and Artem Yakushenko (violin). The group constantly works with theater and film projects, and also takes part in a variety of festivals: jazz, country, world and avant-garde music. At concerts, musicians, with a deliberate disregard for artistry, completely concentrating on the music, are able to establish such contact with the audience that the energy current between the stage and the hall is almost physically felt. March 30 in “B2” , 22.00.