The suspect refused to recognize the attempt on Chubais as a crime A new huge scandal broke out yesterday in the epic investigation into the assassination attempt on the head of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais, committed on March 17 in the Moscow region. The main suspect in this case, retired GRU colonel Vladimir Kvachkov, from the “Matrosskaya Tishina” pre-trial detention center, gave an interview to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Zavtra” Alexander Prokhanov.

Olympic programs will be tested at the Grand Prix stages Tomorrow in the American city of Atlantic City a new season of figure skating starts for the leading athletes of this sport. The season is unusual in many ways, since the upcoming Winter Games in Turin next February will be held under new rules for the first time. Fans will be able to see the Olympic programs much earlier, since the skaters will present them to the audience at the Grand Prix stages.

Bird flu is conquering Europe and approaching Moscow Bird flu, which spread from China to Siberia in August and almost disappeared in the fall, unexpectedly manifested itself near the borders of the capital region. Despite the fact that the presence of the H5N1 strain has not yet been laboratory confirmed, veterinarians have serious concerns that this particular virus recently became the cause of the mass death of poultry in the Tula region.

The Central Bank points out the “undercapitalization” of Russian banks An analysis of the unaudited financial statements of Russian banks according to international standards for the first nine months of last year seems to have seriously worried the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Tatyana Paramonova. In particular, bank profits according to international reporting turned out to be 20% less than according to Russian standards (RAS).

The mayor of Moscow ordered the urgent completion of Tsaritsyno Yuri Luzhkov, who has long immortalized himself in the capital's architecture, in the last years of his tenure as mayor, seems to have decided to put himself on a par with the Russian emperors. At yesterday's meeting of the Moscow government, the mayor demanded to hurry up with the reconstruction of the palace complex in Tsaritsyno in order to complete the work by 2007.

Polish parliament in anticipation of a scandal Today in Warsaw the new parliament, elected on September 25, will convene for its first meeting. For the first time in the post-socialist history of Poland, the inaugural meeting of the Sejm foreshadows a scandal. Immediately after the deputies are sworn in, the work of parliament may be paralyzed due to disagreements surrounding the candidacy of the Marshal of the Sejm.

Officials of the Federal Tax Service and the Central Bank were detained in a restaurant The Moscow prosecutor's office yesterday announced the arrest of two responsible officials red-handed for receiving a large bribe - the head of one of the divisions of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) of Russia and an employee of the legal department of the Moscow Main Territorial Administration (GTU) of the Central Bank of Russia.

The Europalia cultural festivals have been held in Belgium since 1969 from the beginning of October to the end of January. The events take place both in Brussels and in other cities, and are usually attended by more than one million people. Due to the scale of the events and their number, the twentieth festival "Europe-Russia" will last until the end of February. The total budget is twelve million euros.

Visit World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz arrived in Moscow for a two-day official visit last night. He plans to discuss Russia's role in solving global development problems in Moscow in connection with its upcoming chairmanship of the G8 in 2006. During the visit, Mr. Wolfowitz intends to meet with representatives of the Russian leadership, as well as regional authorities and partners of the WB group.

But he will go to work for another month Yesterday in Berlin, exactly a month after the early parliamentary elections, the German Bundestag of the 16th convocation met for its constituent meeting. This officially ended the reign of the coalition of Social Democrats and Greens led by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Forecast for the coming days On Wednesday, with the strengthening influence of the Scandinavian anticyclone in the central regions, no rain is expected, but at night the first frosts will make themselves felt: at night and early in the morning the temperature will drop to -2...-7°C, but during the day it is still warm like autumn, +2.. .+7оС. On October 21, the influence of the advancing Atlantic air will begin to affect.

Russian trawler declared war on Norway The strange story that happened with the Russian trawler "Electron", which was engaged in fishing in the North Sea, will apparently become the reason for proceedings between the diplomatic departments of Russia and Norway. And Captain Yarantsev, who promised to ram a ship of the Norwegian Navy, may get away with just a slight fright.

Alexander Ryazanov will turn Sibneft into Gazprom Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexey Miller yesterday visited the office of his new acquisition, Sibneft, for the first time. He also brought with him the future head of the company - now deputy chairman of the board of the gas concern, Alexander Ryazanov. The meeting with the workforce, according to Vremya Novostei, lasted about half an hour.

They continue to shoot militants in Nalchik In Nalchik yesterday, security forces carried out another sweep of residential areas and surrounding areas in search of participants who participated in the attack on the city on October 13. At about 5 a.m., in the southwestern part of the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria, unknown persons fired at a traffic police patrol. In response, the police opened fire and killed one man. Two of his accomplices managed to escape.

Visas for Russians will be simplified in a year and a half An agreement on visa facilitation between Russia and the European Union may be signed before the end of this year. This pleasant news for many of our fellow citizens was announced yesterday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after a meeting with his Portuguese colleague Diogo Freitas do Amaral.