Billionaire Soros expels Russia from G8 American billionaire George Soros calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8. “The prerequisite for participation in the G8 is democracy,” he said in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Press, “and in Russia it no longer functions. There are no more independent media, no political opposition and no judiciary independent of the government.

Leaders in railway engineering unite to develop and produce new equipment Railway engineering is one of the most successful sectors of the Russian economy in 2004. The increase in production for individual items amounted to 50 percent or more. Thus, the revenue of enterprises included in Transmashholding CJSC in 2004 increased by 49.3% - to 22.4 billion rubles. Company specialists expect that high growth rates will continue in 2005.

Religious fanatics burn cards with hearts on Valentine's Day Valentine's Day has finally taken root in Russia. Experts from the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion came to this conclusion. According to the results of the latest survey published yesterday by sociologists from VTsIOM, more than half of Russians consider Valentine's Day their holiday.

Fiat and GM no longer have any obligations Leading US and Italian automakers - General Motors and Fiat Auto - managed to agree to sever relations. Last Sunday, a two-month dispute between the companies ended in an out-of-court agreement: GM agreed to pay 1.55 billion euros for refusing to purchase 90% of Fiat shares (the American concern still owned 10% of the shares), and the parties terminated the five-year partnership.

Radio play by Tom Stoppard on the Small Stage of the Moscow Art Theater The most significant thing in the play “The Artist Descending the Stairs” is the passage of time. The action begins in 1972, jumps to 1922 and 1914, and returns back.

CSKA will play with Real and Barcelona The draw for the second group stage of the ULEB Euroleague, held yesterday in Barcelona, ​​identified the titled Spanish “Real” and “Barcelona”, as well as “Scavolini” from the Italian city of Pesaro, as opponents for the CSKA basketball players. The host team of the upcoming Moscow Final Four tournament in May was frankly unlucky with the draw - our group represents perhaps the worst possible option.

New jurors and new prosecutors were presented to the defendant Pichugin Alexei Pichugin, a former Yukos security officer accused of organizing murders and assassinations, began to be tried anew. Yesterday, the indictment was read out in the Moscow City Court and the second defendant, Pichugin's alleged accomplice, Alexey Peshkun, was questioned. After recent threats of disbarment, the defendants' defense lawyers appeared at the hearing in full and immediately demanded the judge's recusal.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer yesterday took upon himself “political responsibility” for “possible omissions and errors” of his employees. In 2000, German embassies and consulates were ordered by Fischer's former deputy Ludger Vollmer to issue entry visas "in doubtful cases." The doubt was interpreted in favor of the applicant on the basis of the primacy of the human right to movement.

Last week, President Putin met with representatives of theater workers to calm passions over the upcoming theater reform. The representatives, appeased by the president, explained to their colleagues and the public that they would now think about the reform together, that the president understood the danger and would take action. During these same days, passions began to swirl again in the film community - for a more private reason, however.

Victims of “prevention” by the Bashkir police came to complain to the president Capital human rights activists, together with colleagues from the regional branch of “For Human Rights” in Bashkiria, yesterday held another press conference on the scandalous “preventive” operation, which was organized by local police in the city of Blagoveshchensk last December.

Russians are being forced out of the peninsula After Leonid Kuchma leaves the political arena, a redistribution of property in Crimea is inevitable. The struggle for power in the autonomous republic has also intensified: Yushchenko’s people are now vying for the highest positions. Recently, rallies were held in Simferopol, the participants of which demanded the resignation of the head of the government of the autonomy, Sergei Kunitsyn.

Over the past few years, humanity has noticeably brought closer the hour when its envoys will be able to get very close to Mars and then set foot on the surface of this planet. Russia is among those countries that are traditionally in the vanguard here. Recently, Deputy General Designer of RSC Energia Nikolai Bryukhanov said that a Russian manned spacecraft could enter Martian orbit in 2014 - long before the United States, Europe or China are able to achieve such a goal.

Vagit Alekperov will sell gasoline in Suomi LUKOIL intends to develop the Finnish petroleum products market. Yesterday the company announced that it had submitted a notification to the European Commission about the planned acquisition of shares in the Finnish companies Oy Teboil Ab and Suomen Petrooli Oy, which own 289 gas stations and 132 points selling diesel fuel.

In the Chelyabinsk region, yesterday morning, the head of the Satka city police department, Alexander Uskov, was killed right at his workplace. The colonel's body with three gunshot wounds to the chest was discovered by his subordinates at about 8.00. To investigate the emergency, a special investigative group was immediately created, headed personally by the regional prosecutor Alexander Voitovich. The examination showed that Colonel Uskov was shot from a machine gun.

The Central Bank explained American laws to bankers The Central Bank made an attempt to help Russian bankers maintain correspondent relationships with US banks, which were under threat after the US authorities stepped up the fight against money laundering. Yesterday, the Bank of Russia published its translation of American documents provided to it by the Federal Reserve System (FRS) and dedicated to the fight against money laundering.