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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yuri Luzhkov demands that the appetites of Manege restorers be curtailed The construction grid, which bashfully covered the remains of the burnt Manege, could not hide the friction that began in the Moscow leadership as soon as it came to financing the restoration project of this historical monument.

A Swedish court did not allow Alpha to join the board of directors of a Russian operator The Stockholm Arbitration Court considered the claim of the Bermudian investment fund IPOC, which is a minority shareholder of Megafon OJSC. IPOC accused all other shareholders of the operator - the St. Petersburg holding Telekoinvest, the Swedish-Finnish company TeliaSonera and Alfa Group-controlled CT-Mobile LLC - of violating a previously concluded agreement between them.

Vladimir Putin turned out to be more optimistic than his government Last night, President Vladimir Putin once again met with the government. The presidential phrase about the government with which he will work in the next four years, as it turned out, must be taken literally. Putin takes such an active part in the work of the government that the president can already be considered its de facto leader.

MDM wants to become another publicly traded bank. As Vladimir Rashevsky, chairman of the board of MDM Bank, said yesterday, an IPO of about 20% of its shares could take place in mid-2005. But first, MDM wants to merge two affiliated banks - MDM Bank - St. Petersburg and MDM Bank - Ural - which has not been possible to do for the third year. The financial group of Andrei Melnichenko and Sergei Popov includes seven banks, the leading of which is MDM Bank (about 80% of the group’s assets).

Architectural exhibitions of the Year of Germany in Russia The “Moscow-Berlin” mega-exhibition opening this week is accompanied by exhibitions in different halls of Moscow, one way or another united by the theme “Problems of a modern metropolis”. At the State Center for Contemporary Art they show “Schizorama” (young art of Berlin), at the House of Photography - “Prussian Blue”, at the A.V. Museum of Architecture.

Georgy Yartsev may not have enough players for the match with Bulgaria Yesterday, for the first time after the memorable matches with Wales, the Russian team gathered in a strong lineup. However, not all of the players invited by the head coach of the national team Georgiy Yartsev will be able to take part in the test match with the Bulgarian national team, which will take place on March 31.

The Accounts Chamber's claims to Chechnya remain unaddressed The scandal over the misuse of huge budget funds allocated for the restoration of Chechnya has a chance to fade away without really flaring up. “We have not yet received any documents on the results of the work carried out in Chechnya by the Accounts Chamber,” the republic’s prosecutor Vladimir Kravchenko told the Vremya Novostei newspaper yesterday.