Former head of Roskompechat and his son detained in Moscow Law enforcement agencies yesterday announced two high-profile arrests - the former head of Roskompechat Boris Mironov and his son Ivan . Despite the fact that both of them were detained in Moscow on the same day, the reason for this was different criminal cases. Ivan Mironov was wanted as one of the defendants in the scandalous case of the assassination attempt in the spring of 2005 on the head of RAO UES of Russia Anatoly Chubais .

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko vetoed the 2007 state budget law. He demanded that parliament and the government “finalize the document taking into account the interests of the poorest segments of the population”, increasing the cost of living and the minimum wage. The President called for making the budget more transparent, canceling some tax breaks and the provision that allows gas traders to pay VAT not in real money, but in bills of exchange.

At least 71 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in a double attack yesterday in At-Tayaran Square in central Baghdad. Hundreds of Iraqis looking for work gather there in the morning. Most of the dead were Shiites living in the capital's Madinat Sadr district. The deadliest was the first explosion carried out by a suicide bomber. He stopped his pickup truck in the center of the square and loudly announced that he was looking for day laborers for construction work.

The government and the Duma are trying to eliminate the negative consequences of alcohol control The alcohol market is still awaiting change.

LUKOIL sold half of Nelson to Lakshmi Mittal's structure Lukoil Overseas announced yesterday the sale to India's Mittal Investments of a 50% stake in Caspian Investments Resources, which has the assets of Nelson Resources on its balance sheet.

International Exposure-2006 took place in Tel Aviv International Exposure in Russian can be called a festival, but the word “fair” is still closer. On the stage of the Tel Aviv Susan Dellal Center and in its surroundings, Israeli dance theaters are shown for four days - both famous ones that have traveled the world and semi-amateur ones. Most of the audience in the audience are producers of international festivals (our people from Moscow and St.

The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, held a meeting yesterday on the development of the giant Shtokman field on the shelf of the Barents Sea. It was decided to make Sevmorneftegaz (the subsidiary of the concern that owns the license) the single customer for design and construction. The new scheme for implementing the project, as well as the role of potential foreign partners, as reported in the concern's press release, will be determined in the spring of 2007.

Gazprom will not help Sakhalin-2 approve the cost estimate in its current form First Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom Dmitry Medvedev yesterday was the first to officially confirm the gas concern’s intention to buy from foreigners about half of the Sakhalin-2 project, which is being implemented on production sharing terms. At a meeting with foreign journalists, he did not talk specifically about the controlling stake. “Negotiations are proceeding quickly.

Security Council ready to adopt resolution on Iran The world community got a real chance to welcome 2007 with the UN Security Council resolution on the Iranian atom . The document, presented recently by the European troika consisting of Great Britain, France and Germany and later positively assessed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov , was supported yesterday by Tehran’s main antagonist, the United States.

The process of rethinking history always suffers from excesses and costs. But the very list of those who want to rehabilitate or denigrate is of unconditional interest. One of the most significant places among those subjected to revision in recent years is occupied by Grigory Rasputin, who was killed 90 years ago, in mid-December 1916. In 1991, he was even “canonized” at the Consecrated Council of Bishops of the Catacomb Russian Church of True Christians. Who was Grigory Rasputin really?

The Eurotour stage starts tomorrow at the ice palace on Khodynka Tomorrow in Moscow, at the Khodynka Ice Sports Palace, built specifically for the May World Cup, the Russia-Sweden match will kick off the third stage of the Eurotour - the Channel One Cup. In Soviet times, the traditional December tournament with its legendary mascot the Snowman was known as the Izvestia Prize, then it was renamed the Baltic Cup (1997-2003), ROSNO Cup (2004-2005) and now held under a new name.

Kirghiz throughout Russia are uniting Yesterday the first congress of Kyrgyz living in Russia took place in Moscow.

This year, Georgian wine exports will amount to no more than 30% of last year’s figure, when Georgia sold 60 million bottles (of which 40 million went to Russia). The Union of Georgian Wine Producers told Vremya Novostey about this. Russia imposed an embargo on alcohol supplies from Georgia and Moldova on March 27. The chief state sanitary doctor of Russia, Gennady Onishchenko, said then that heavy metals and pesticides were found in Georgian and Moldovan wines.

Yuri Luzhkov suggested that schools refuse money from the national project Moscow officials, it seems, were themselves able to fully appreciate the subtleties of the bureaucratic “art” that nullifies even the most correct initiatives. An attempt by the Ministry of Education and Science to support the best schools within the framework of the national project “Education” by allocating them grants of 1 million rubles is turning into a major scandal in the capital.

Checking the Bank of Russia The public dispute between Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and the head of the Accounts Chamber Sergei Stepashin about whether it is necessary to check the activities of the Bank of Russia received an unexpected continuation. An official statement was published on the Ministry of Finance website yesterday, which talks about the reasons why Mr. Stepashin’s department cannot engage in an audit of the Central Bank.