“They killed Boyarsky. 01/11/95 at 10.30, in the city, lying in his house, 3rd entrance. Burov. 9.25. 12.01.95.” Exactly ten years ago, this piece of paper, torn from a checkered school notebook, was handed to me by a stranger. The note was intended for Vladimir Stepanenko, who was also unknown to me, from apartment No. 15 in building 137-a on Lenin Avenue. And although he lived nearby, Burov himself did not really want to go to the specified address.

Vladimir Putin temporarily left Russians the right to drink beer on the streets Having barely returned to work after the New Year holidays, deputies are forced to return to the beer topic, which seemed to be completely closed at the end of the autumn session. The bill on restrictions on the retail sale of beer, adopted by the State Duma on November 26 and approved by the Federation Council on December 8, unexpectedly aroused the president's dissatisfaction.

Government Established an import quota for the import of poultry meat into Russia in the amount of 1 million 50 thousand tons for 2005. The corresponding decree was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. By the same decree, the government distributed quotas for the supply of poultry meat among supplying countries. The first meeting of the Russian government after the New Year holidays will take place on January 13 and will be devoted to finance.

Sergei Ivanov launches a preemptive diplomatic strike against the United States Yesterday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov flew to the United States on a working visit that will last until January 15. The program of the visit of the head of the Russian military department includes meetings with his colleague Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush and his national security assistant Condoleezza Rice, as well as with Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is leaving his post the other day.

Moscow doctors hope that they will be remembered at least in 2006 The first problem that Moscow mayors decided to discuss after the long New Year holidays was health. And not only your own. At yesterday's meeting of the capital's government, officials from the health department presented to their colleagues the city program for medical examination of Muscovites, proposing to spend about 700 million rubles on its implementation in 2005-2007.

Customs clearance of goods has become more expensive In the first days of the new year, importers, not waiting for the end of the long holidays, were unpleasantly surprised by sudden changes in customs procedures. Rates of customs duties for clearance of imported goods have increased significantly since January 1, 2005. Primarily for small carriers.

Russian authorities are looking for those responsible for the dissatisfaction of beneficiaries Protests by pensioners and other socially vulnerable Russians, who from the first days of the new year experienced the effect of monetization of benefits, finally caused a reaction from the authorities. True, this required that actions and rallies of people deprived of free travel or who had not received the promised free prescriptions for medicines spread across the country.

There may be less global heritage in the Caucasus On the eve of the New Year, the Volnaya Kuban newspaper informed its readers that the State Duma Commission on the Problems of the North Caucasus considered it necessary to begin construction of a highway that will connect the Caucasian Mineral Waters region with the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort. Citing “some sources,” the newspaper also reported that this project had allegedly already been approved by Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin.