Burkhard Bergmann: "Germany and Europe will remain attractive and important markets for Russian natural gas" Tomorrow in the Finnish city of Lahti an informal summit of leaders of the European Union countries will take place, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to participate.

Abkhazia wants to become the Marshall Islands Yesterday, the People's Assembly (Parliament) of Abkhazia appealed to the President of Russia and Russian deputies to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republic and establish associated relations with it. This decision will become an additional irritant for the Georgian authorities. Tbilisi is confident that Moscow is behind the separatist aspirations in Sukhumi and Tskhinvali.

Ramzan Kadyrov prepared a program for the restoration of Chechnya Yesterday, Prime Minister of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov spoke about his next project for the accelerated post-war reconstruction of the republic. This time we are talking about the draft program for the socio-economic development of Chechnya for 2008-2011. The project, according to the prime minister, will be ready in the coming weeks and then sent for approval to the relevant federal authorities. They, Mr.

There will be more special economic zones By the end of this year, several more special economic zones should appear in Russia. As Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of the Federal Agency for the Management of Special Economic Zones (RosSEZ), said yesterday, the agency expects to hold a second competition for the creation of an industrial production zone in the remaining two and a half months of the year. Irkutsk and Rostov have already announced their desire to take part in the new competition.

Omsk Aircraft Plant may supply six An-74 transport aircraft to Venezuela Under pressure from the United States, Spain finally abandoned the contract for the supply of 12 military aircraft to Venezuela. This was announced yesterday by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. As a result, the export prospects of the Omsk production association Polet, which is ready to supply similar aircraft to Venezuela, have significantly improved.

The company of Andrew Paulson and Alexander Mamut will improve LiveJournal The SUP-Fabrik project, about which there have been a lot of rumors lately, was finally presented to the public yesterday. A media group with the short name “Soup” is preparing to implement a global project to develop the Russian version of the popular online diary LiveJournal.

Capital graduates will be tested for knowledge of their native language only in the form of the Unified State Exam Every year the Moscow Department of Education expands the list of subjects for the unified state exam. Initially distrustful of the Ministry of Education’s initiatives to replace school final exams and university entrance tests with unified tests, capital officials may emerge as leaders in the all-Russian Unified State Examination experiment.

The Chukotka public does not want another governor until 2020 In Chukotka, media reports about Roman Abramovich's intention to leave the post of governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (ChAO) in 2007 had the effect of a bomb exploding.

Deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor was surprised by the arrival of the police Employees of the Department for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DBOPiT) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs yesterday seized documents from Rosprirodnadzor.

Israeli Prime Minister visited the Kremlin The current visit to Russia by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries. However, the anniversary mood did not deprive Olmert's Moscow meetings of concrete business content. The three-day visit to Russia was Olmert's first trip abroad since the war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

In an interview with Vremya Novostei, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Nino BURJANADZE predicts how protracted the confrontation between Moscow and Tbilisi could become and what role the international community should play in the settlement. -- How long will Georgia and Russia need mediators?

Sochi failed to prove to the Greeks its right to be called the birthplace of the Golden Fleece The expected arrival of a copy of the mythical ship "Argo" to the port of Sochi this fall has been postponed indefinitely. Modern Argonauts may not visit the Russian resort at all, and the project, which Sochi residents hoped could help the city in the fight for the right to host the XXII Winter Olympic Games, will not be realized. The plans were rosy.

CLUBS Ms. John Soda (Germany), Tonearm (USA). German electropop and indie electronica from Ilya Tonearm Bis. As part of the "Territory" festival . "Orange" , 21.00. Evgeny Grishkovets and “Curlers”. Presentation of a new program, which will soon be released on the album “Second”. “16 tons” , 22.00. Electric Zoom: Vladimir Ratskevich, Alexey Borisov, Yuri Orlov.

The stability of the results does not please Kyiv fans Having won all three opening rounds of the Champions League, Lyon and Manchester United almost secured their place in the playoffs of the tournament. But Dynamo Kiev, having lost the third match in a row, can already say goodbye to the league. Group "E". Now the Kiev team’s tournament goal is to take third place in the group, which gives them the right to continue fighting in the UEFA Cup.

The Duma increases fines for violating immigration laws The State Duma yesterday adopted in the second reading amendments to the Administrative Code of Russia, increasing liability for violations of the procedure for attracting foreigners to work. The document, submitted to the Chamber by the Russian government, increases administrative fines for violation of migration laws for both employers and illegal workers.