The President signed a law on the creation of a financial institution Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law establishing the Development Bank . He announced this yesterday at a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, expressing hope that the creation of the bank will begin in the very near future. The Prime Minister, who will head the bank's supervisory board, has already informed the president about his proposals for the work of the future bank.

On Wednesday, the heat will still persist in most of the European territory of Russia. This time it will be supported by an Atlantic cyclone rushing from the north of Germany. Most areas of the middle zone will be in its warm sector, which receives hot air from southwest Europe. Therefore, during the day it is again around +30°C. Dry weather will continue to prevail, with thunderstorms possible only in the north of the central region closer to the cyclone.

The Moscow City Court refused to recognize the Poles killed in Katyn as victims of repression Another wedge has been driven into the already not rosy relations between Russia and Poland - this time by the Moscow City Court. The capital's Themis yesterday refused to accept for consideration the application of human rights activists from the Memorial society with a request to recognize the Polish soldiers who were shot in Katyn in 1940 as victims of political repression .

United RUSAL and SUAL will help the UN improve the environment The United Company "Russian Aluminum" decided to expand its activities in the field of ecology and take its initiatives on environmental issues beyond the company. Yesterday, she signed a memorandum of intent with the United Nations Development Program to implement joint actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

More than ten years have passed since the MMM pyramid collapsed overnight, but during this period the name Mavrodi has become a household name, and the letter combination “MMM” is already integrally associated with the period of early capitalism in Russia. Sergei Mavrodi was always looking for ways to make money.

The trial of the warrant officer who beat up the private has begun The military court of the Nizhny Novgorod garrison began considering a high-profile case of beating a subordinate by a warrant officer in the Russian army. As a result of the “barracks showdown,” Private Vladimir Shurayev was in a coma for more than a month and will most likely remain disabled for the rest of his life.

United Russia promises to ensure continuity of the presidential course after 2008 Yesterday a joint meeting of the Supreme Council and the General Council of the United Russia party took place. There were three issues on the agenda: the implementation of the so-called “Putin plan”, the draft federal budget for three years and the procedure for nominating non-party candidates on the United Russia lists in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Sale of Yukos assets may take three months The mysterious Prana LLC , which won the auction for the sale of the Moscow offices of YUKOS in a tough struggle with Rosneft, offering a fabulous sum of 100.09 billion rubles for them, received a warning from the FAS. On May 29, the company must submit to YUKOS bankruptcy trustee Eduard Rebgun permission from antimonopoly officials to purchase these assets.

At the sale of energy sales assets, there was competition only for the Nizhny Novgorod company RAO UES of Russia continues to sell energy sales assets. However, there is practically no significant activity at the auction : of the five auctions held this week, only one had competition - for the sale of 49% of the shares of the Nizhny Novgorod Sales Company. It was sold to the alliance of Transneftservice S and Integrated Energy Systems (IES) for 2.05 billion rubles.

"Europe - Russia - Europe" at the Tretyakov Gallery The exhibition, which opened in the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val, is timed to coincide with two significant dates: the 150th anniversary of the Tretyakov Gallery (the exhibition closes the museum’s anniversary year) and the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome by the European Union, which gave rise to European integration.

The English prosecutor's office has accused Andrei Lugovoy of the murder of Alexander Litvinenko The UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) yesterday officially named the main accused in the scandalous case of the murder of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko , who died last November in London from poisoning with the rare radioactive material polonium-210.

CLUBS Placebo (Great Britain), East Germany . One of the most interesting and promising groups of the European alternative wave gives two concerts in Moscow at the B1 Maximum club, 20.00. CONCERTS Alexey Seleznev (cello) and Tamara Oganezova (piano) perform sonatas for cello and piano in E minor and F major, scherzo and “Strict Tunes” by Brahms. Small Hall of the Conservatory , 19.00. Evening of classical operetta .

VTsIOM compiled a rating of Russian universities based on surveys of graduates and employers Representatives of VTsIOM and Business Russia intend to make an attempt to make the sociological approach the basis for assessing the quality of Russian higher education.

Investigators and film producers will look into the record-breaking underwater treasure Treasures worth half a billion dollars excite the imagination of not only fans of pirate novels, but also officials. The American company Odyssey Marine Exploration, which announced the discovery of sunken treasure last week, is facing claims from Spain.

Sergei Lavrov advised Baku not to grind history Moscow and Baku are linked by bonds of mature strategic partnership. This was stated yesterday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking to students at Baku State University. These words were spoken on the second day of his official visit. Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation, according to Mr.