The fate of the collection of painting masterpieces, illegally taken from Bremen during the war by Captain Baldin, again came to the center of public attention after the Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov announced that Russia would not give the “Baldin collection” to Germany, but instead would return the silver as moral compensation. , which belonged before the war to the family of the German Prince of Anhalt, repressed by the NKVD.

The demolition of cottages on the banks of the Istra Reservoir did not take place again An attempt by the Ministry of Natural Resources to organize a demonstration demolition of elite cottages in the protective zone of the Istra reservoir ended in another farce.

The Moscow Drama Theater tour opened with “Masquerade” Bolshoi Drama Theater named after. G.A. Tovstonogov brought seven performances to Moscow. Three of them - Lermontov's Masquerade, Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House and Michael Frayn's Copenhagen - were directed by Temur Chkheidze.

Foreign currency wages become cheaper along with the dollar The rise in the dollar exchange rate, with which the year began, turned out to be short-lived. Yesterday, the dollar fell by more than 7 kopecks, breaking another psychological milestone - 27.7 rubles. The last time it cost this little was November 2000. Analysts feel sorry for those Russians who receive salaries in American currency, but predict its further depreciation.

Europe and Russia solve the problems of visas and Kaliningrad The Putin-Bush summit in Bratislava had barely ended when Moscow began preparing for a new responsible summit meeting. On May 10, Vladimir Putin will meet in the Russian capital with the leaders of 25 European Union countries. Yesterday in Luxembourg, which holds the EU presidency for the current six months, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed preparations for the summit.

FIDE has proposed a new option for identifying a single world champion Last weekend in Tbilisi, the FIDE Presidential Council made, according to the head of world chess, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a “historic” decision: the Prague agreements to identify the world champion as part of the unification cycle were canceled and a match-tournament of eight participants was appointed, played in two rounds with a classic seven-hour control of thinking time.

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has had his deputies cut Vladimir Putin yesterday appointed by his decree two deputy ministers of internal affairs - Andrei Novikov and Mikhail Sukhodolsky. At the same time, the president relieved six generals from similar positions: Sergei Shchadrin, Evgeniy Solovyov, Mikhail Pankov, Mikhail Ignatiev, Sergei Verevkin-Rakhalsky, Vitaly Mozyakov.

Glossy literature is usually associated with female stupidity. A gentlemanly set of stereotypes associated with “female romance” has been legitimized. These novels have their own story, associated with the image of a housewife who mindlessly whiles away the time between cooking dinner and watching the TV series in the evening.

Today, Nikolai Karachentsov’s condition remains stable and serious. This was announced by the director of the Lenkom Theater Mark Varshaver. After two operations that were performed on Nikolai Karachentsov, his condition remains serious; he is in intensive care. “There is no deterioration today, and this already gives us hope,” Warshaver said. Nikolai Karachentsov is in a second-degree coma. Alexander Ermolov, director of the Sklifosovsky Research Institute, spoke about this.

The party in power is still afraid to consider the Nashi movement as its own The emergence of the youth movement “Nashi” on the basis of “Walking Together”, allegedly with the participation of the presidential administration, became one of the high-profile socio-political events. At the same time, the birth of “Nashi” takes place in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, and information leaks to the press in small doses.

Today, the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov, together with the heads of the Foreign Ministries of the leading world powers, will take part in the London international conference on providing assistance to the Palestinian Authority. How can the world community support the Palestinians? Javier SOLANA, High Commissioner for Foreign Policy and Security of the European Union, answered this question to Vremya Novostei newspaper columnist Elena SUPONINA in London.

The demonstrators dismissed the Karame government A massive protest in central Beirut at Martyrs' Square culminated last night with the resignation of Omar Karameh's government. “The government will not be an obstacle to those who want good for this country. I announce the resignation of the government that I had the honor of leading. May God save Lebanon,” Karame announced to the cheering crowd.

Tony Blair follows the beaten election path The British House of Commons yesterday held its final debate on the Terrorism Prevention Bill introduced by Tony Blair's government, a package of measures against terrorist suspects. The debate around the controversial bill has already caused a heated row in parliament and led to another split in the Labor Party camp two months before the general election.

Belarus again wants to fine a Russian company The seemingly quiet conflict around the property of the Russian Transnefteproduct, located on the territory of Belarus, flared up with renewed vigor. The tax authorities of the republic put forward further claims against Zapad-Transnefteprodukt in the amount of $13 million and went to court. Property located in Belarus has long been a headache for Transnefteproduct.

Zubkov's crew won silver at the World Championship The best season in the history of Russian bobsleigh ended on a positive note. The four crew of the newly crowned World Cup winner Alexander Zubkov won silver medals at the World Championships, held on the track in Calgary. Previously, the best result of our bobsledders at world championships in the period after the collapse of the USSR was bronze, won by the crew of the same pilot Zubkov two years ago in Lake Placid.