Today Russia is starting the second stage of the operation to provide humanitarian assistance to Serbian refugees in Kosovo. Russia was the first to come to the aid of the non-Albanian population of Kosovo, who suffered in the March ethnic cleansing planned by Kosovar extremists. The head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei SHOIGU, was personally involved in the organization of Russian humanitarian convoys for Kosovo in Serbia and Montenegro.

Viktor Zubkov wants to take four deputies with him to financial intelligence Yesterday, the head of the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring (FSFM), Viktor Zubkov, entered into a hardware dispute with the head of the government apparatus, Dmitry Kozak. The country's chief financial intelligence officer decided that two deputies, as required by the new trends in administrative reform, were not enough for him. To combat money laundering and terrorist financing, Mr.

Less than a month has passed since Vladimir Yakovlev works as the presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District, and the former St. Petersburg governor has already found a project that claims to be the “construction project of the century.” Let us recall that large-scale construction projects accompanied all of Mr. Yakovlev’s activities in St. Petersburg, and they, in turn, were invariably accompanied by scandals.

As head of the Altai Territory, Mikhail Evdokimov will have no time for jokes In the second round, the current governor of the Altai Territory, Alexander Surikov, lagged behind the current participant in the Full House television program, Mikhail Evdokimov. Evdokimov received 49.53% of the votes, Surikov - 46.29%. There has never been such a “funny” governor in Russia. Not only does the artist Evdokimov have no administrative experience, he was not officially supported by any party.

Pavel Lazarenko received $25 million from Itera in 1996 As expected, the trial of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko, which started in the United States two weeks ago, brought new scandalous details about the history of the formation and development of business in Ukraine. One of the first “victims” was Itera, whose founder, shareholder and top manager Ted Cavalieros admitted to American justice that in 1996, on behalf of the company, he transferred $25 million to Mr.

The new Thomas Anders turned out to be very similar to the old one On Sunday, the former vocalist of the main foreign pop duo for our country, Modern Talking, performed at the State Kremlin Palace. In general, Anders’ solo incarnation is not new to us: Modern Talking, which our entire multinational homeland went crazy about in the 80s, broke up several times.

Magnitka's goalkeeper saved four shootouts Magnitogorsk Metallurg also prevailed in the second home match of the final series against Omsk Avangard. True, yesterday the Urals snatched victory in an absolutely equal and extremely nervous match, the logical conclusion of which was a series of free throws. After 70 minutes of net time, two “ones” were lit on the ice arena scoreboard, and in the shootout lottery the main character was the colorful Canadian goalkeeper of Magnitogorsk Norm Maracle.

Kovalchuk will share glory with competitors The regular season of the National Hockey League has ended in North America. The winner was the Detroit Red Wings, for which they received the President's Cup. This trophy, as honorable as it is, is of little use. He brings nothing but the advantage of his own court until the Stanley Cup final, and moral satisfaction to the team. However, for Detroit the President's Cup has special significance.

Moscow saw the fourth Chekhov performance by Peter Stein In honor of its 120th anniversary, the Riga Russian Drama Theater invited Peter Stein, a longtime favorite of Russian audiences, to perform. Having first come to us in 1990 with “Three Sisters,” he later brought “The Cherry Orchard” (both productions of “Schaubühne am Leniner Platz”) and “Uncle Vanya,” made in Italy.

The jury left the would-be suicide bomber without mercy At the Moscow City Court, a panel of jurors yesterday issued a verdict in the case of Zarema Muzhakhoeva, a suicide bomber sent by Chechen militants last summer to carry out another explosion in Moscow. On the evening of July 9, 2003, she came with a bomb to one of the restaurants on 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, but she failed to blow herself up.

The exchange rate of the European currency against the ruble fell by 2% The euro/dollar exchange rate is falling in the same spurts as it recently rose. The value of the common European currency on world markets yesterday fluctuated at $1.2, close to a four-month minimum. This was instantly reflected in Russian quotes: against the ruble, the euro fell by almost 70 kopecks, the dollar rose slightly (plus 3 kopecks).

Not long ago in Berlin, at a meeting of Russian and German political scientists organized by the German Foreign Policy Council, one of the senior German foreign policy officials was asked a question about the situation in Kosovo. In response, there was a very complacent statement that everything was going for the better in Kosovo: the situation was stabilizing, life was getting better. Shortly after this rosy statement, ethnic violence erupts in Kosovo.

Latvia is stocking up on food as if before war In Latvia, as well as throughout the Baltic states, less than a month before joining the European Union, gloomy sentiments are spreading due to the impending rise in prices. The point is not even that Latvia will in the future switch from the local currency (lats) to the euro - this will happen gradually, not earlier than 2007-2008.

Russia will definitely not be accepted into the world trade club until 2005 Having returned from the next round of negotiations on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, the head of our delegation, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Maxim Medvedkov admitted: in 2004 Russia will not become a member of the WTO. Moreover, it is not yet possible to indicate even an approximate time frame for the successful completion of negotiations.

From June 1, a special agricultural regime will be introduced in Russia The government appears to be making a third and final attempt to introduce “exclusive” taxation for farmers. Amendments to the law on the unified agricultural tax were put on the president's desk yesterday. If the amendments come into force, then within two months all agricultural producers will be expected to submit applications for a voluntary transition to a fundamentally new tax payment system.