Dmitry Medvedev is confident that “Russia will not stray from the path of reform” The Kremlin has decided not to ignore the West's growing concerns about what Putin's second term in power will turn out to be like and the direction in which Russia has begun to move.

To combat unfounded criminal prosecution, it is necessary to review the very procedure for initiating cases and restructure the law enforcement system, says Sergei VITsIN, Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Council for Improving Justice, Major General of the Internal Service, Doctor of Law. Initiating a criminal case, unfortunately, often becomes a tool of competition. And ordinary citizens often try to resolve their purely everyday conflicts by contacting law enforcement agencies.

General Blaskic was released five times faster than expected In the coming days, the released Tihomir Blaškic, who was sentenced for war crimes by the appeals chamber of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), intends to leave Zagreb for his native places in Central Bosnia. The discount for the ex-Bosnian Croat general was significant - the term was reduced five times, from 45 to 9 years.

US banks have stepped up offshore activities The unfolding scandal surrounding the participation of major international banks in the bankruptcy of the Italian concern Parmalat (see Vremya Novostey, August 3) has attracted close attention to the problem of the use of offshore centers. The Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has already recorded a significant increase in business activity carried out through offshore zones for some time now.

CMD did not want to take away his server Immediately after the meeting of the expert council at the State Duma Committee on Property, at which the latest events in the Center for International Affairs were discussed, the questions of Vremya Novostei correspondent Alexander SHVAREV were answered by the Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Valery SYZRANTSEV.

Railway communication with Moldova disrupted Transnistrian authorities yesterday blocked the unrecognized republic's railway communication with Moldova, placing concrete barriers and armed guards on the rails in the city of Bendery.

Professors took bribes with potatoes, chicken and butter Two leaders of the Voronezh State Agrarian Institute recently found themselves in the dock. The accused, according to the GUBEP of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and the UBEP of the Voronezh Region Department of Internal Affairs, built a real business on students, which brought not only good financial income, but also constantly replenished the cellars and refrigerators of the teaching staff.

Terrorism will plague the world for another hundred years Today politicians, experts, and military personnel are talking about new threats to Russia and the world. However, if we move on to a substantive conversation, it turns out that most of them by new threats mean international terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In fact, the range of threats is much wider and they are not so standard. Who is threatening Russia today and with what?

Henin-Hardenne decided to compete at the Olympics Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, number one in the world tennis classification, announced yesterday that she will take part in the Olympic Games. For a long time, her trip to Athens was in great doubt. After losing in the second round of the French Open at the end of May, Justine has not competed at a WTA tournament since then due to a viral infection.

The television company will resume work in Belarus, taking into account Lukashenko’s opinion NTV is returning to Minsk, from where the Russian television company’s own correspondent was deported with scandal in July 2003. It is expected that the work of the NTV Minsk bureau will resume in early February.

Legislation on depositories will be governed by Based on an analysis of the events surrounding the Central Moscow Depository, the State Duma Property Committee will prepare amendments to several federal laws by the end of September. This was announced yesterday by its chairman Viktor Pleskachevsky at the end of a closed meeting of the committee’s expert council.

Criminal charges are becoming a key mechanism for resolving property disputes Having seen enough of the scandalous battles of large “business entities” sorting out their economic relations with the help of prosecutors, judges, bailiffs and riot police, ordinary Russians seem to have decided that this path is the most effective method of resolving a property dispute today. Getting a criminal case initiated against an opponent is often much easier than defeating him in an open civil trial.

The leader of the Union of Right Forces will fight for fair presidential elections in 2008 Chairman of the Federal Council of the Union of Right Forces party Boris Nemtsov claims that his resignation is a decided and inevitable matter. However, the final decision will be made by the Union of Right Forces congress, scheduled for January 24-25. “At the congress, I will resign as party leader.

Monetization of benefits gained five kilograms It took the State Duma ten hours of work yesterday to consider and adopt in the second reading the law on the monetization of benefits. The opposition even tried to raise the question of self-dissolution of the lower house of parliament if the law was adopted. The Duma adopted the law. She refused to dissolve herself. Perhaps, it has been a long time since there has been a bill that has caused such violent public protest.

Taganrog was swept by a wave of contract killings Chekhov's homeland has made a serious bid for the status of a new criminal capital. Recently, five well-known local businessmen have been killed in the seaside city. Now police officials are reassuring Taganrozh residents with statements that there is no talk of any new redistribution of spheres of influence in the city.