German Gref will divide the state border between the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the FSB Customs will be separated from business structures - in full accordance with the instructions of the president, expressed in a harsh form last Monday. This decision was made by the government yesterday at its regular meeting. The “divorce” process will be handled by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade German Gref.

Government approves expenses for witness protection The state intends to spend nearly a billion rubles on witness protection in the next three years. Yesterday it became known that Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov approved the state program “Ensuring the safety of victims, witnesses and other participants in criminal proceedings for 2006-2008” worth 948.72 million rubles. These funds will be used to protect and relocate witnesses, replace their documents, change their appearance, etc.

Gas supplies to Ukraine halved As Vremya Novostey learned, the exclusive seller of imported gas to Ukraine, RosUkrEnergo, has reduced gas supplies to this country by 50% since April 10. The reason for the restriction was total non-payments on the part of Naftogaz of Ukraine. Now only the joint venture of RUE and Naftogaz, Ukrgazenergo, receives Central Asian gas. Gazprom and Naftogaz could not be reached for comment on what happened yesterday.

Prose version of La Traviata at the Golden Mask The big question is where would the consumptive lady with camellias live if she lived in our time? St. Petersburg director Yuri Alexandrov believes that on the side of the highway, where characters in miniskirts and fishnet tights gather at night. We have to listen to this opinion. Firstly, because Alexandrov occupies quite a serious position in Russian opera directing.

The same prime minister will remain in Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who retained the post of President of Belarus, began yesterday to form a new government team. The former one was dismissed on April 8, the day of the inauguration of the head of state, as required by the country's constitution. The outcome of the question of the head of the cabinet did not bring any surprises. Alexander Lukashenko proposed retaining the post of prime minister for 52-year-old Sergei Sidorsky.

Tulitsa buys European champions The leaders of the women's volleyball club "Tulitsa", which was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs of the Russian championship, are thinking about the next season. According to Polish media reports, Tulica has already entered into an agreement with two 2005 European champions, Małgorzata Hlinka and Joanna Mirek.

Those accused of bombing a train from Grozny chose the people's court The scandalous case of the bombing of the Grozny-Moscow passenger train last summer in the Moscow region will be heard by a jury. However, it has not yet been submitted to the court - the two Muscovites accused of this crime are still continuing to get acquainted with the investigation materials. But their defense said yesterday that once they receive the indictment, motions will be filed to have their case tried by jury.

The Irkutsk region is preparing to grow into an autonomous okrug On Sunday, April 16, a referendum on the merger of regions will be held in the Irkutsk region and the Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug (UBAO). For the plebiscite to be considered valid, at least 50% of those who came to the polling stations must answer affirmatively. And the turnout itself must be at least half of the list of voters. The issue of unification with UOBAO is fatal for Irkutsk governors.

The United States does not trust the ability of the Russian authorities to protect intellectual property Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization is facing ever new obstacles. The United States, dissatisfied with the way copyright is protected in Russia, is again threatening to block our country's entry into the international trade club.

And freed the Turkmen prisoner of conscience Turkmen authorities released 64-year-old Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev from a psychiatric clinic, recognized by Amnesty International (AI) as a prisoner of conscience. According to AI, this happened two days ago in response to an appeal from 54 US senators and congressmen sent on April 4 to Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. Mr. Durdykuliev is little known outside his country.

The “Orange” coalition legalized relations Ukraine will be governed by the “orange” majority in the Rada. Yesterday, the presidential bloc “Our Ukraine”, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) and the Socialist Party signed a protocol on the procedure for forming a coalition of democratic forces. Two more parties that were included in the Rada - the Party of Regions and the Communist Party - will remain in opposition.

Instead of refusing to participate, Kuznetsova defeated her opponent At the BTA first category women's tournament with a prize fund of $1.34 million in Charleston (USA), three Russian tennis players reached the 1/8 finals. If Dinara Safina had to upset her compatriot Vera Zvonareva a day earlier in the second round, then Nadezhda Petrova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who had higher seeding numbers, knocked out their foreign rivals from the fight.

Bush is in no hurry to congratulate Prodi on his victory Four days after parliamentary elections in Italy, there is still no complete confidence that they were won by the center left led by Romano Prodi. At a rally of supporters in his native Bologna, ex-Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission Prodi announced: “We have clearly won in both houses of Parliament.

Australian bribes to Saddam remain a mystery Yesterday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard testified for 50 minutes in the case of abuses under the UN oil-for-food program for Iraq. The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime are being investigated by an independent commission led by retired judge Terence Cole. Without having judicial powers, she will transfer the collected dossier to the authorized bodies. Mr.

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