Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov decided to divide their joint business Perhaps the most scandalous event of the past year was the collapse of one of the largest and most durable Russian tandems - the multibillion-dollar empire of Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov. The “divorce” of the two former partners began immediately after last New Year, which businessmen traditionally celebrated in Courchevel, France, Mr.

The world demands to find the killers of Pakistani politician The UN Security Council met in New York for an emergency session and strongly condemned the terrible tragedy that occurred yesterday afternoon in Pakistan. Prominent politician and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was the victim of an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber at an election rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

Banking “people's IPOs”, advertised by the state and personally by President Vladimir Putin, became, perhaps, the central events of the past year in the Russian financial market. VTB's initial public offering, the world's largest this year, and Sberbank's SPO were generally successful for both issuers. But the banks chose the wrong time. There was a collapse on the global stock market when Sberbank placed its additional share issue; as a result, it fell short of the planned 20 billion rubles.

Moscow fiscal officials will collect a third more taxes in 2007 than in 2006 Tax control in Moscow is becoming increasingly stricter. Moscow tax officials this year will collect at least a third more taxes than last year. This is evidenced by the tax collection statistics published on the official website of the Moscow Federal Tax Service. Moscow, like any capital, lives off the taxes of the largest corporations registered on its territory and trading enterprises.

The Zubkov government considered guidelines for the work of the next cabinet of ministers Vladimir Putin already took the prime minister's chair yesterday. True, only for about thirty or forty minutes. He came to the White House to participate in the last cabinet meeting in 2007 .

Gazprom began buying Beltransgaz in parts The promised, as they say, waits for three years. In the case of Beltransgaz, Gazprom waited five years for mercy from Alexander Lukashenko. And if we take the first intergovernmental agreement on this topic as a starting point, then its history goes back a good fifteen years. As a result, Gazprom agreed to value Beltransgaz at $5 billion—that’s exactly what Mr. Lukashenko wanted to get five years ago, when the deal was successfully scrapped.

Dmitry Rogozin is expecting his official appointment as Russia's permanent representative to NATO any day now. In the Duma of the third convocation, the politician headed the Committee on International Affairs, and from the summer of 2002 to January 2004 he served as the special representative of the Russian President on the problems of the Kaliningrad region, so the appointment can be called his return to foreign policy. At the same time, at a certain moment, Mr.

In 2007, a Russian photographer died in Iraq At the end of the outgoing year, on December 26, George Bush signed, despite the objections of the opposition in Congress , a 555 billion budget for the next fiscal year. To the satisfaction of the US President, there is a line about the allocation of $70 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Badri Patarkatsishvili refused to run for the post of head of Georgia The scandal surrounding 52-year-old Arkady (Badri) Patarkatsishvili , the richest participant in the Georgian presidential race in the January 5 elections, ended yesterday with the oligarch withdrawing his candidacy. At the same time, he stated that the Georgian authorities were going to liquidate him and even contacted Chechen terrorists for this. The other day, Mr.

Relations between Russia and the United States will not get better Relations between Russia and the United States deteriorated noticeably in 2007. The harsh speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin in February in Munich was greeted by America with poorly concealed irritation.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky's empire came to an end in November “Memories will not torment me” is the last phrase in the liquidation of YUKOS, which was uttered by bankruptcy trustee Eduard Rebgun. With his light hand, almost two dozen auctions took place to sell the property of the bankrupt company.

The customs union will be created in a month An obvious, but far from the main result of the outgoing year in the CIS space seems to be the preservation of the Commonwealth format itself. Those analysts are right who claim that the existence of the CIS in its current form is unlikely to be threatened by anything, since it is increasingly becoming a geographical concept rather than a geopolitical one.

The crisis forced Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and other investment banks to attract new shareholders Defaults on mortgage loans in the subprime sector in the United States, which began in the summer of the past year, developed into a liquidity crisis and led American and European financial companies to multibillion-dollar losses. The heads of Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS AG and Commerzbank were forced to leave their posts after publishing disappointing financial reports.

Another person accused of murdering civilians in Chechnya escaped trial The North Caucasus District Military Court (SKOVS) yesterday sentenced two federal officers for the murders of civilians in Chechnya. Internal Troops employees Sergei Arakcheev and Evgeniy Khudyakov received 15 and 17 years in a maximum security colony, respectively. This case is like two peas in a pod to another scandalous trial that took place in the court of the same military district - the so-called Ulman case.

New Year's program of Moscow clubs, theaters, concert halls As always, the New Year has quietly approached. For some reason, almost every time this holiday takes everyone by surprise. Everyone asks each other about New Year's plans, and almost always the plans are unknown until the last minute. Not everyone managed to buy tickets to Goa or Madrid in advance. Therefore, those who remain in Moscow will have to choose from what Moscow clubs and restaurants offer. And there are plenty of offers.