The government explained to Yukos how to avoid bankruptcy The YUKOS case is approaching a denouement. The future fate of the oil company is no longer a taboo topic for Russian government officials. After Vladimir Putin said last week that the Russian authorities are not interested in the company's bankruptcy, yesterday there was no shortage of ministerial comments on this topic. The state makes it clear that it can compromise with the company and not destroy it.

First, a quote. “We must make a decisive turn towards meeting the urgent needs of our peoples.” These words, rare in their relevance, could have been uttered by any leader who tirelessly thinks about his “dissatisfied” people. In our case, it could be the leader of any CIS state. From time to time they all say this, especially on the eve of the next election.

Lisin and Abramov swapped places Participants in the non-profit partnership (NP) “Russian Steel” recently held their annual meeting and again elected as their president the chairman of the board of directors of the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works, Vladimir Lisin, who already held this position in 2002. A year ago, Mr. Lisin was replaced by the president of Evrazholding, Alexander Abramov, who has now received the position of chairman of the partnership’s supervisory board.

Yesterday at 9.05, a few tens of meters from the Mamaika police checkpoint, located on the border of the Central and Lazarevsky districts of Sochi, a BOVA bus en route to the resort from Grozny crashed. There were 50 passengers and two drivers on the bus. The passengers - residents of Chechnya, adults and ten children - were sent for examination and treatment to the eye microsurgery center, which operates in the Metallurg sanatorium in Sochi.

“St. Petersburg” McCartney outdid “Moscow” For one day, St. Petersburg became the city of Paul McCartney. Trains full of Muscovites were greeted at the station by young people wearing T-shirts with the inscription Paul is here! (“The floor is here!”) against the background of the blurry outlines of the Admiralty, which is difficult to recognize. Resellers offered tickets to the “seated stalls” right on the platforms.

Buses and banks prevent us from doubling GDP Summing up the preliminary results of economic growth makes us think seriously. On the one hand, the positive trend continues. GDP growth in January-May compared to the same period last year reached 7.3% - with the rate of 7.2% required to double GDP by 2010. But at the same time, the growth of GDP and industrial production, adjusted for seasonal factors, amounted to only half a percent in May compared to April.

Academicians believe it is correct to divide the prize among only three Russian academics perceived Vladimir Putin's decree on changing the procedure for paying state awards in the field of science almost as a personal gift from the president. The five million rubles that new laureates will begin to receive in 2004 will significantly increase the very prestige of the prize, which in recent years has been so symbolic that it has long since become the butt of jokes.

The victory over the Greek team somewhat softened the impression of the Russian national team’s performance at the European Championship. However, for the midfielder of our team, Vladislav RADIMOV, winning the last match, which did not decide anything, was little consolation: too many hopes were associated with this championship. — Vladislav, how would you rate the Russian team’s performance overall? - How unsatisfactory.

The Central Bank explained how it will apply the new law on currency regulation Financial officials are beginning to forget their promises to maintain a liberal model of currency regulation after the new law “On Currency Regulation and Currency Control” comes into force.

Officials study the stock market The situation on the Russian securities market yesterday became one of the main topics of the meeting of the president with members of the government. The head of the Ministry of Economic Development, German Gref, assessed this situation as unstable. “Although the interbank market leveled off last week,” he stated, “there is instability in the corporate bond market.” According to Mr.

Forecast for the coming days After numerous cyclones, an anticyclone settled in the middle zone for the first time. In the third decade of June, weather forecasters suggest that the temperature will be three to four degrees above the climate norm. In the afternoon, an atmospheric front will pass through the middle zone from the southwest to the northeast. It will push the anticyclone to the east. There will be short showers, with thunderstorms and gusty winds in some places.

The first private spacecraft rose 100 kilometers It was not in vain that thousands of American fans of aviation and astronautics spent several days destroying their stocks of alcohol under the scorching sun of the Mojave Desert in California. Everyone who happened to be near the local airport can rightfully consider themselves witnesses to a historical event - the first flight of the private spacecraft SpaceShipOne, which, as its creators assure, yesterday reached an orbit of 100 kilometers.

Wagner's The Flying Dutchman at the Bolshoi Theater On the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater they showed Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, staged for the Bolshoi (and since 2006 for the Bavarian Opera in Munich) by the favorite director of German-language opera Europe, Peter Konwitschny.

This truth - the Great Patriotic War was started by Hitler and Germany - in the USSR and then in Russia was not subject to doubt. But a man appeared who turned everything upside down (in his opinion, just the opposite): Stalin was preparing the war, and the Fuhrer, sensing the danger of a stab in the back, was forced to turn the army to the east.

The new head of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, 38-year-old Salih al-Aufi, was previously a warden in one of the local prisons, and is now number four on the list of 26 terrorists wanted by Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi press, al-Aufi was dismissed from service for “misbehavior”; he has been a member of al-Qaeda since 1985, and has met Osama Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar more than once. He comes to his homeland only secretly.