At the European Championships, the Russians were left without gold The central events in winter sports last weekend were two European Championships. And if the speed walkers held separate competitions in Collalbo (Italy), the continental bobsleigh championship took place as part of the World Cup stage there in the Apennines, on the Cortina d'Ampezzo track.

Novosibirsk "Red Torch" at the "Golden Mask" Performances in which formal directorial ingenuity is combined with extreme poverty of thought, with the theater’s fundamental reluctance to “talk about the significant and important” (Stanislavsky’s expression), according to my feelings, are becoming more and more numerous.

The new head of the registration service faces old problems After two weeks of existence without leadership, Rosregistration received a new boss. Yesterday, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Sergei Vasiliev as director of the Federal Registration Service - chief state registrar of the Russian Federation. Until now, Sergei Vasiliev served as Deputy Minister of Justice.

The depth of oil refining will be increased at the Kirishi Oil Refinery Surgutneftegaz intends to finally begin construction of a deep oil refining complex at the Kirishi Oil Refinery. The company has been promising to implement this project for more than ten years. A source at Surgutneftegaz told Reuters that the company could sign the corresponding contract for more than $1 billion as early as next week.

Bjoerndalen won all three races in Ruhpolding The penultimate stage of the Biathlon World Cup on the track in Ruhpolding (Germany) on the eve of the world championship starting in February was marked by the absolute superiority of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. As part of the Norwegian team, he first won the relay race, and then, solely through personal efforts, won the sprint and the first mass start this season.

For the third time in a row over the past six months, friendly Serbia has become a happy place for Russian judokas. In the fall of 2006, our team celebrated a double victory in the European Team Cup in Belgrade. In winter, the Russians Alexander Mikhailin and Tea Donguzashvili became the first at the absolute championship of the continent.

Gazprom will release gas from the Beregovoye field to the detriment of gas from the Zapolyarnoye field It seems that problems with increasing gas production are forcing Gazprom to take desperate steps.

Chelyabinsk dance performances at the Golden Mask The last two dance performances in the Golden Mask competition turned out to be very small - twenty minutes each. Both were brought from Chelyabinsk; both represent common dance monologues. Vladimir Golubev, who previously worked at the local Theater of Contemporary Dance (in the domain of the famous “village girl” Olga Pona), is showing his current work under his own brand; Maria Greif, who still dances with Pona, is under the theater brand.

Less than a third of Russian energy generation will be available to independent investors The intensification of processes related to the reform of RAO UES allows experts with a high degree of probability to predict its results and draw conclusions.

The US is afraid to repeal the Jackson-Vanik Amendment Yesterday, US Presidential Trade Representative Susan Schwab (pictured) called repeal of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment “premature.” Passed by the US Congress in 1974, this relic of the Cold War still limits trade relations between Moscow and Washington. The amendment was introduced in order to encourage the USSR authorities to allow Jewish emigration. It survived the collapse of the USSR and more than one US administration.

The Ministry of Natural Resources accused Gazprom of the lack of oil reserves in Eastern Siberia The Ministry of Natural Resources decided to seriously look into why oil companies do not want to invest money in the development of Eastern Siberia and prepare the raw material base for filling the second stage of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline.

High avant-garde at the Moscow Forum festival The conservatory festival "Moscow Forum" - with free tickets, the chamber Rachmaninov Hall as the main and only venue, with a luxurious reputation and impeccable ambitions - is being held in Moscow for the tenth time. It began as a quiet, modest event for the enlightened and curious, although already at the very beginning of its history it sought to make programs not only intimate in spirit, but also quite serious, even provocative in content.

Yesterday, the Latvian government approved a bill ratifying the border agreement signed by Russia and Latvia on March 27. All ministers from the coalition People's Party, the Union of Greens and Peasants and the association of the Latvian First Party and Latvijas Tselš voted to submit the bill to the Seimas. Three ministers from the nationalist union TB/DNNL, also part of the government, were against it.

Mourinho encouraged by Wigan defeat Talk about the imminent departure of Portuguese Jose Mourinho from Chelsea, which has been agitating England in recent days, has subsided slightly after the defeat that the Blues inflicted on Wigan in the next round of the English Premier League championship. After the big 4-0 victory, Mourinho was very talkative with journalists, managing to calm the passions that arose after his careless announcement about the departure of Roman Abramovich from the club.

Vladimir Putin is closely involved in reforming the railways This year, Vladimir Putin, apparently, actively intends to engage in the process of reforming natural monopolies. If last year he held several meetings on the development of the electric power industry (most of which turned out to be ineffective) and is now awaiting concrete decisions, then in the field of railway transport, by and large, a model of transformation has yet to be determined.