Putin's visit to Ukraine is back on the agenda Vladimir Putin called his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko yesterday and congratulated him on the successful resolution of the political crisis. Then the Russian leader, in a telephone conversation, congratulated Yanukovych on his appointment as prime minister.

The government is pushing regions to earn more Work on the 2007 budget has entered a decisive stage. On the eve of the “zero reading” of the budget in the State Duma, the government, during the tripartite commission on interbudgetary relations, decided to work on one of the most difficult areas, namely to formulate what the principles of providing assistance to the regions would be. As a result, it was decided to create more incentives for them to increase their own income.

Andrey Kobelev headed Dynamo Yesterday, Yuri Semin wrote an official letter of resignation from the post of head coach of Dynamo Moscow, which was accepted by the club’s management. Andrei Kobelev again became the acting head coach. He will lead the team on August 13 for the next round match with CSKA. It is still unknown how long Kobelev will lead the team: there is no consensus in the Dynamo management whether he should become the head coach or whether a specialist with a big name is needed.

SUAL may build an aluminum smelter in the Far East together with Hydro and HydroOGK The SUAL Group, the Norwegian Hydro Aluminum and JSC HydroOGK yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation of energy projects in the Far East. We are talking about cooperation between companies to supply energy to an aluminum smelter that SUAL and Hydro Aluminum can build in this region.

The Kaliningrad region cannot achieve tariff understanding from Lithuania Cargo carriers in the Kaliningrad region froze in anxious anticipation. One of these days, the long-discussed issue of reducing Lithuanian transit rates for cargo traveling in the Kaliningrad direction should be resolved.

The head of Rosoboronexport does not believe in the effectiveness of US discriminatory measures The story of the US State Department imposing sanctions against two leading Russian companies - FSUE Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi Holding Company - continued yesterday. General Director of Rosoboronexport Sergei Chemezov expressed confidence that the State Department will most likely reconsider its own decision.

Vladimir Putin gave an interview on reforming the railways Vladimir Putin gave his first interview during his second presidential term to a Russian print publication. Answers to five questions under the heading “Railways are a symbol of the unity of Russia” (last Sunday was Railway Worker’s Day) were published yesterday in the Gudok newspaper, the official press organ of Russian Railways. The railway company, as you know, is headed by a friend of the country's president, Vladimir Yakunin.

Hezbollah sends spy plane to Israel The draft resolution on Lebanon proposed by the United States and France was again submitted for discussion to the UN Security Council yesterday, but in an amended form, taking into account the wishes of Beirut. A point was fixed on the need to demarcate the border of Lebanon for the effective deployment of an international peacekeeping contingent.

The Cologne prosecutor's office is satisfied with its defendants from E.ON Ruhrgas On Wednesday evening it became known in Cologne that local prosecutors had searched the premises of the gas company E.ON Ruhrgas in Essen. As employees of the prosecutor's office told the local press, more than a hundred municipal officials of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as five employees of the company itself, are under suspicion.

Onions, gasoline and the influx of capital prevent the presidential order from being fulfilled Inflation has begun to accelerate again. After 0.5% in May and 0.3% in June, consumer price growth in July amounted to 0.7%. These are the official data of Rosstat. The results of the month turned out to be higher than both the official forecasts of the Ministry of Economic Development and expert estimates.

Creating a positive image of Moscow will begin with the Internet Moscow officials are preparing to use more than 700 million rubles, which the city authorities are going to allocate in the next three years to improve the reputation of the Russian capital.

The Nenets have found a new leader Deputies of the legislative assembly of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) yesterday at an extraordinary session approved Valery Potapenko as governor of the northern region. His candidacy, proposed by Vladimir Putin, was supported by all 16 deputies present at the session.

Madonna will finish her European tour in Moscow Madonna's concert in our country is an event that became such even before it actually took place. The level of interest in the concert of the American superstar, a symbol of pop music in the 80s, 90s, and even the 2000s, is extremely high for a number of reasons. Almost since winter, “reliable rumors” began to circulate that a concert was coming.

Deputy Chairman of Gazprom called on the West to comply with market principles Gazprom executives remain frequent and, apparently, welcome guests in Germany. At the end of last week, on the eve of Chancellor Merkel's visit to Moscow, the head of the company, Alexei Miller, visited here. And yesterday, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexander Medvedev was in Berlin.

The loss of two safes from the federal criminal investigation department may cost its boss his job A scandal broke out in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Two huge safes with “secret documents of an operational nature” disappeared from the ministry building on Zhitnaya Street in Moscow.