Ten years ago, with the assistance of Russian diplomacy, the bloodshed in the Transcaucasus - Karabakh and Abkhazia - was stopped. But a peaceful settlement has not been achieved. The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) is especially difficult. After a long pause, progress was expected in 2004, but it was barely possible to resume meetings between the presidents and foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Cabinet of Ministers teaches regions to look for money for road construction An unexpected obstacle has stood in the way of President Vladimir Putin's ambitious plan to double GDP by 2010. This may be prevented by the second eternal Russian problem - roads. “This problem (the condition of roads. - Ed.

The Russian stock market took a break In the absence of vacationing operators and investors, calm reigned on the Russian securities market. Yesterday was not a particularly eventful day. True, on Wednesday morning, trading participants tried to use the positive news from the world stock and commodity markets that had accumulated over the holidays.

Elena Syanova’s first novel, “Cry, Margarita” (M., “Olma-press”, 2002; “Original” series) was dedicated to Hitler’s inner circle on the eve of the Nazis’ rise to power. The book aroused polemical responses, which were immediately rebuffed by lovers of the “everything is more complicated” formula.

Belarus fights for workplace discipline The fight for discipline is one of the main campaigns carried out by the Belarusian leadership this year. Officials are so eager to introduce discipline and order that now President Alexander Lukashenko himself is asking them not to bring the situation that arose in connection with the directive on strengthening public safety and discipline, signed by the president back on March 11, to the point of absurdity.

Moscow Megafon has opened a new niche of subscribers The Megafon-Moscow network has launched a new tariff plan “One to One”, the distinctive feature of which is the lowest subscription fee in Moscow - $1. The company hopes that this tariff will become the golden mean between the tariffs of the pre-paid series (“ Simply", "O'Light", GSM-Light) and contract offers. But Megafon's competitors doubt that One to One will be in mass demand.

Participants in the Great Patriotic War will be given 10 free minutes for long-distance calls Rostelecom decided to give veterans a traditional gift for Victory Day. On May 9, all participants in the Great Patriotic War will be able to call fellow soldiers and relatives from other cities and countries of the former USSR for free. Veterans will receive up to 10 free minutes and can use them both from their home phones and at call centers.

Mikheil Saakashvili opened the beach season in Adjara Yesterday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, surrounded by hundreds of supporters along the famous Batumi boulevard, walked onto the beach, raising sea spray. At the same hours, the Adjarian Babu (“grandfather”), long-time ruler of the region Aslan Abashidze, taken to Moscow at night by plane by the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Igor Ivanov, was already counting down the first hours of emigration.

Today Vladimir Putin will take the presidential oath for the second time Vladimir Putin, who yesterday already received the “crown” of the President of the Russian Federation, today will pronounce the words of the oath of the head of state for the second time. At noon, central television channels will begin broadcasting his inauguration ceremony live.

Julio Bocca showed Moscow his Basil American Ballet Theater does not raise its own stars - it buys strangers. It’s enough at a high take-off, when it’s already clear that a person is an event, but he still has fifteen years of a career ahead of him. This happened almost twenty years ago with Julio Bocca - after a fantastic victory at the Moscow competition in 1985, he was invited to ABT (the troupe was then led by Mikhail Baryshnikov).

RUSAL has reached an agreement in principle with Alcoa on the sale of two rolling mills to it - the Samara Metallurgical Plant (SMZ) and the Belokalitvensky Metallurgical Production Association (BKMPO). Details of the deal have not yet been disclosed. The sale is expected to be completed by June 30. The two rolling mills become part of Alcoa and will be focused on meeting the needs of both the Russian market and customers in Europe, Asia and America.

The head of the Central Election Commission, Alexander Veshnyakov, told his subordinates about the “correct” elections Muscovites and guests of the capital, who decided to take a walk along Bolshoy Cherkassky Lane at about 10 a.m. yesterday, could observe how wooden boxes were unloaded from a Gazelle parked near the building of the Central Election Commission - like those in which fruits and vegetables are brought to markets. Only instead of oranges the boxes were filled with red carnations.

Pan Vujtek is as popular at home in Ostrava as in Russia. At least during matches held at the local Chez Arena, spectators did not allow him passage. They surrounded me, were interested in business, and asked various questions. Most of all, fans were worried about Vuytek’s opinion about the failure of the Russian team. And he himself is surprised, shrugs his shoulders - I didn’t expect this.

Death sentence for doctors who kill children Libya, which is just establishing relations with the West, presented an unpleasant surprise to the international community. Five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor, who worked in Libya under a contract, were sentenced yesterday by a Benghazi court to death “for deliberately infecting children with AIDS.” Another Bulgarian, anesthesiologist Zdravko Georgiev, was sentenced to four years in prison.

America must bear responsibility for Russia's problems. This was stated on the American Fox News channel by Republican Congressman Curt Weldon, who has been dealing with the problems of the USSR and Russia for more than 20 years.