Vladimir Putin is looking for Russia's place in Asia Vladimir Putin continues his global Asian political tour. Russia, which has long considered itself a bridge between East and West, thanks to such diplomatic acts can more realistically understand how reliable and pragmatic our increasingly obvious Asian political preferences are.

The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, is ready to punish truants Oleg Deripaska, Andrei Kostin, Alexey Miller and Alexander Mamut Changes in the personnel composition of the bureau of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, thanks to the intention of the new President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, to leave only the most active ones, may turn out to be much more radical than one might

Chinese authorities want to regain people's trust After 16 years of silence, the Chinese authorities remembered Hu Yaobang, one of the key figures in politics in the 80s. The reason for lifting the taboo on the official mention of his name was the celebration of the 90th birthday of the politician, who was born on November 20, 1915 in a peasant family in Hunan province.

Student Booker is much nicer than the main one A game invented at the Russian State University for the Humanities called Student Booker (Studobooker also) has somewhat cheered up the rather dull plot of the current bookeriad.

Yuri Luzhkov brought up another governor in his team The Kremlin successfully continues the practice of expelling the closest associates of the current Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov from Moscow to responsible work. The most promising potential heirs of the Moscow mayor are sent one after another by governors to various Russian regions.

Vnesheconombank and Gazprom will work in Thailand Vnesheconombank will act as a financial agent for the implementation of large projects in the oil and gas industry in Russia, Thailand and third countries. The corresponding agreement was signed last Friday in Busan, South Korea, after negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who took part in the APEC summit.

The idea approved by the State Duma of United Russia (or, more likely, their Kremlin curators) to include in the 2006 budget an item of expenditure on supporting non-governmental and public organizations in Russia and abroad is not very smart. Because this is the application of geopolitical and financial efforts in a direction that is contrary to the objective interests of the country.

The onset of the future, when the last drop of oil on Earth runs out, has already begun today. European Greens, in the face of continuing hikes in hydrocarbon fuel prices, have shouted: “Get away from oil!” This seemingly purely symbolic spell managed to find a lively response in some places in the highest spheres of public policy.

US President George W. Bush's three-day official visit to China ends today. Yesterday he held talks with the Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Secretary General of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao, and met with Premier Wen Jiabao. Hu accepted Bush's invitation to visit the US in 2006.

The partnership between Gazprom and Europe continues to develop Largest export channel Natural gas consumption in the world in general and in Europe in particular has been growing at an accelerated pace in recent years. According to the international gas association Sedigaz, in 2004 world gas consumption increased by 3% compared to the previous year and reached 2,771 billion cubic meters.

Gazprom bypasses Ukraine through trial and error The leaders of Russia, Italy and Turkey, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi and Recep Erdogan, inaugurated the Blue Stream gas pipeline on November 17. The joint project of state-owned companies of three countries was called a blue dream due to its technical complexity and high cost.

Today in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the eve of his departure on a tour of the Arab countries of North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), will discuss with his Iraqi colleague Hoshyar Zebari the prospects for Russian-Iraqi economic cooperation. As Vremya Novostey was told at the Iraqi embassy in Russia, the visiting delegation also includes technical specialists - oil workers and energy workers.

In Tyumen they are wondering who will be the new governor of the region Tyumen politicians, left without a governor, spent the past week speculating as to who could replace Sergei Sobyanin, who became the head of the presidential administration. At the moment, the region's political elite is informally discussing three candidates and expects to receive an official successor to the governor from the Kremlin on Tuesday in order to quickly begin to unite the region.

Rescuers intimidated the population of Kamchatka with preparations for a powerful earthquake The Ministry of Emergency Situations is so actively preparing to eliminate the consequences of a powerful earthquake, which, according to forecasts, may occur in Kamchatka, that these activities have already made the local population nervous. “Readiness number one” includes 450 people, including rescuers, doctors and dog handlers, “seconded” from Moscow, Khabarovsk and the Altai Territory.

The Trans-Baltic Pipe is born on a wave of controversy In early December, the Vologda region will host an official ceremony to begin construction of the North European Gas Pipeline. In order to supply European consumers with additional volumes of gas in the next decade, Gazprom will lay about a thousand kilometers of pipe from the village of Gryazovets to Vyborg.