Vladimir Putin will elect a new president of Kabardino-Balkaria Consultations on a candidacy for the post of President of Kabardino-Balkaria will begin today. The 64-year-old president of the republic, Valery Kokov, who ruled for 15 years, wrote a letter of resignation on Friday directly in the hospital ward of the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow. This was confirmed by Presidential Envoy to the Southern Federal District Dmitry Kozak.

The Kaliningrad region awaits special economic status The economy of the Kaliningrad region has been living in limbo for several years now - there is still no new law on a special economic zone. In the westernmost Russian region, separated from its native country by the territories of foreign states, they really hope that this law, so important for the region, will finally be adopted during the current session of the State Duma.

Forecast for the coming days The paths of North Atlantic cyclones pass through the Arctic seas of Russia. Their atmospheric fronts bring rain mainly to the north of the European territory of Russia. It also rained in the central regions. Thanks to the Western European anticyclone, pressure remains elevated in more southern latitudes. At the beginning of the week there will be light rain in the north-west, on Monday afternoon +10...+15оС.

Afghanistan has its own parliament “Today we are making history” - with these words early yesterday morning, Afghan President Hamid Karzai cast his ballot for the parliamentary elections. Mr. Karzai's enthusiasm is understandable; the last time Afghans elected deputies was in 1969, under King Zahir Shah. Previously, it was planned to hold parliamentary elections in October last year simultaneously with the presidential ones.

At the age of 76, Yegor Yakovlev, a legendary man and journalist, died in hospital. Egor Yakovlev was born on March 14, 1930 in Moscow.

Iran threatens to leave OPEC At today's OPEC summit in Vienna, a scandal over oil production quotas may break out. The cartel's second-largest member in terms of production volumes, Iran, does not exclude the possibility that it will leave OPEC, since the organization is constantly increasing oil production, and this does not correspond to the national interests of the country.

Exhibition “Russia!” in New York At a press conference on the opening of the exhibition “Russia!” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. There was a small controversy between the chairman of the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, Mikhail Shvydkiy, and the director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Thomas Krentz. In his speech, Shvydkoy called the content of the exhibition textbook and in this he noted its dignity not only for Americans, but also for Russians.

The police took foreign students to the ground The investigation into yet another murder of a foreign student has again quarreled the power structures of St. Petersburg. The leadership of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate almost immediately declared the crime solved, the prosecutor's office said that it knew nothing of the kind, and the student community, in turn, again accused city officials of being unwilling to acknowledge the existence of racism in the city.

Separatists announced the death of security chief Maskhadov On Saturday night, the mouthpiece of the Chechen separatists, the Kavkaz Center website announced the death of the former head of personal security of Aslan Maskhadov, the famous field commander Akhmad Avdorkhanov. According to this message, the “commander of the Eastern Front of Ichkeria” died on September 12, “becoming a suicide bomber.” How and why he died, however, the separatists did not explain.

Lithuanians have questions not only for Russia, but also for NATO Yesterday in Lithuania, work began to remove the wreckage of a Russian fighter from the ground. A Su-27 aircraft of the 6th Army of the Russian Air Defense Forces that violated Lithuanian airspace on Thursday crashed to the ground 55 km from the second largest Lithuanian city of Kaunas. Despite the scandal, the first statements by the leaders and military officials of the Republic of Lithuania were quite neutral.

The Duma took care of children and the Far North The main topic of Friday's plenary meeting of the State Duma was children. After a long discussion, the chamber adopted in the first reading a bill increasing the monthly allowance for a child up to one and a half years old from 500 to 700 rubles.

Our renewed team successfully started at Euro 2005 The Russian women's team began their participation in the European Championship with a victory. At the Sports Palace in the Croatian city of Pula, the wards of Italian specialist Giovanni Caprara, within Group 2 of the preliminary stage, defeated the silver medalists of the previous championship, the Turkish women - 3:0 (25:23, 26:24, 25:20).

Pyotr Mamonov told a parable about the insane A new feature of Moscow’s concert life is an event called “Beautiful Evenings at Gogol’s,” a mixture of a concert and a creative meeting. On the stage of the Theater. Gogol, the artists communicate with the public, as in the old days: notes on branded postcards are sent to the stage, where they are read and responded to. Pyotr Nikolaevich Mamonov fits such meetings like a hand fits a glove.

Russians will not support a ban on international adoption The desire of the Prosecutor General's Office and some State Duma deputies to introduce a moratorium on the adoption of orphans from our country by foreigners does not coincide with the opinion of the majority of Russians. This was very clearly shown by a study conducted recently by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion.

Russia secured victory over Italy in 10 minutes The Russian men's team, after winning two matches in the group stage of the European Championship in Serbia and Montenegro over Ukraine (86:74) and Italy (87:61), secured a place in the playoffs. Late yesterday evening, Moscow time, our basketball players only needed to avoid losing by 15 or more points to Germany to guarantee themselves first place in the group and direct access to the quarterfinals.