May 22 -- June 22, 2007 “Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of Vremya Novostei and the Medialogia company, are ratings of the political figures most actively discussed in the Russian media.

Gazprom Neft will reduce Chevron's stake in the joint project by almost three times Gazprom Neft promises to reduce Chevron's stake in their joint venture Northern Taiga Oil and Gas by almost three times in the next two to three months - from the current 70% to a blocking stake of 25% plus one share. This was announced by the head of Gazprom Neft, Alexander Dyukov, at the annual meeting of shareholders held last Saturday.

American television talks about Russia without news reason From today and throughout the working week, the CNN International TV channel will air a selection of TV stories about Russia in the “Look at...” project. This is the first project where CNN will show Russia “close-up” without a news story in the form of disasters, coups and economic collapses.

On the night from Saturday to Sunday in Burundi (East Africa), an employee of the Russian Embassy, ​​Vladimir Rashitko, was shot dead at a checkpoint near the capital Bujumbura. For an unknown reason, he tried to break through several checkpoints in a diplomatic car. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is investigating the circumstances of the death, and the investigation is being supervised by the Minister of Defense of Burundi.

VTB Bank is ready to spend $1.5 billion within a year on the acquisition and development of banks in the CIS countries. So far, VTB has subsidiaries in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus, but by the middle of next year it wants to ensure its presence in all the other six countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Moldova. This will be the largest network in the CIS countries, which will be created by a Russian bank.

Swedbank may resume operations soon The management of Swedbank, in which the Central Bank introduced a ban on many operations in early June, reached an understanding with the regulator, which they hastened to inform their clients about on the website.

"Union of Right Forces" decided to get rid of the opposition Last Saturday, at a meeting of the federal political council of the Union of Right Forces, the powers of the Moscow city branch of the party, headed by its leader Ivan Novitsky, were terminated early. What happened is a consequence of the conflict between Muscovites and the federals, which has been going on for three months.

Russia and Ukraine postponed the gas problem until the end of the year Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's two-day visit to Moscow at the end of last week did not bring clarity to the current nature of relations between the two countries . The “independence” of Ukraine in resolving the gas issue remains unchanged, despite the names, be it the representative of the “pro-Russian” east of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, or the “orange” president of the country, Viktor Yushchenko.

The President proposed that the Moscow City Duma approve the old mayor Vladimir Putin officially asked Yuri Luzhkov to remain as mayor of Moscow . The president's statement at the beginning of June that he was ready to discuss a change in Mr. Luzhkov's activity later finally took the form of a document - at the end of last week, the Moscow City Duma received a proposal to vest him with the powers of the head of the city for a new term.

Sochi will spend the days remaining before the selection of the capital of the 2014 Winter Olympics in celebrations The organizers of the action starting in Sochi - the Sochi-2014 bid committee and the administrations of the Krasnodar Territory and Sochi promised that from Monday, June 25, until the morning of July 5, the main Russian resort will live with a continuously changing variety of festive events of unprecedented scale. .

Sergei Stepashin wants to make the Accounts Chamber the only budget controller It is not only private entrepreneurs who suffer from numerous inspection bodies. Ministries and departments that receive money from the federal budget are also subject to double control. Control over the use of budget funds is carried out by both the Accounts Chamber and the Federal Service for Financial and Budgetary Supervision (Rosfinnadzor).

Arseny Tarkovsky was born one hundred years ago In 1963, Arseny Tarkovsky spoke his credo. I am a smaller branch from the trunk of Russia, / I am her flesh, and veins reach my foliage, wet, steel, / Linen, blood, bone, / Direct extensions of the roots. // There is a powerful craving for heights, / And therefore I am immortal, while / Flows through my veins - my pain and goodness - / The icy moisture of the underground springs, / All the er and el of the holy tongue.

Gazprom and Eni are going to build a gas pipeline to Europe, bypassing Turkey Energy cooperation between Russia and Italy has been rapidly progressing since Romano Prodi came to power. First, Eni lets Gazprom into the wholesale gas market in the Apennines, then, in a consortium with Enel, buys controlling stakes in the gas assets of YUKOS for the Russian monopolist.

The Sochi 2014 Bid Committee promises IOC members new surprises and rich sponsors Representatives of the Sochi 2014 bid committee flew to Guatemala on Sunday night , where on July 4, 115 members of the International Olympic Committee will determine whether the Russian resort city is worthy of hosting the Winter Games in seven years.

The Americans admitted to kidnapping a Soviet citizen Today, for the first time, secret CIA documents on the activities of this intelligence service from 1953 to 1973 will be made public. The main US intelligence agency voluntarily decided to place this data on the website of the National Security Archive at the American George Washington University. We are talking about 693 pages prepared in 1973 on the orders of then CIA chief James Schlesinger.