Leaders of a number of parliamentary factions in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) deprived Russia of the right to lead this organization for the next two years. According to the principle of rotation adopted in PACE since the early 1990s, the candidacy of the president is proposed in turn by five main parliamentary groups. At the PACE session opening on January 21, this role was to be played by the European Democrats group.

Ukraine hastened to join the North Atlantic Alliance Ukraine, which had barely recovered from the internal political crisis, hurried to join NATO . Yesterday, President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Arseniy Yatsenyuk sent a joint appeal to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, in which they asked to include Ukraine in the action plan for membership in the alliance at the April summit in Bucharest.

Kosovo Albanians were asked to wait for the EU mission until spring The problem of Kosovo's status yesterday again became the focus of attention of the UN Security Council. Given the importance of the issue, members of the elite international club discussed it in various formats. First, the subject of discussion was the report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Blue and Whites put the finishing touches on Avangard in the first playoff match The playoffs have started in the Russian hockey championship. The capital's Dynamo, which had tormented its fans all season with a mediocre show, suddenly transformed and snatched victory in overtime from the Omsk Avangard. But the main sensation occurred in Mytishchi, where the local Khimik lost to Severstal. And the match in Magnitogorsk might not have taken place at all.

Russia uncovered a European conspiracy at the IAEA No sooner had the UN Security Council adopted a resolution on the Iranian nuclear issue on March 3 than new disagreements arose over it between the leading powers of the world. Today, the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was supposed to adopt a tough resolution, the draft of which was introduced on Monday by Great Britain, France and Germany.

Russia will supply Belarus with up to 5 billion kilowatt-hours this year By the end of the week, Belarus promises to reach an agreement with Inter RAO UES on the import of Russian electricity this year in the amount of up to 5 billion kWh. The head of Belenergo, Pavel Yakubovich, told reporters about this yesterday. According to him, the parties have already reached a consensus on the volume of supplies and price of electricity. Inter RAO UES confirmed this to Vremya Novostei. Mr.

The main feature of the past month is the incredible information richness. Serbia and Kosovo, presidential campaigns in Russia and America, President Putin’s unprecedented telethon, the triumphant Biathlon World Championship for Russia, the anniversary Oscar, the anniversary Grammy and the anniversary of Gazprom. The festive picture was slightly spoiled by the unpleasant stories with the defendant Aleksanyan and the journalist Morar.

Managers of Russian industrial enterprises do not believe in the innovative path of their development The growth of industrial production in Russia continues to slow down. Including due to the onset of imports caused by the continued strengthening of the ruble and rising inflation expectations . This conclusion can be drawn from the recently published February bulletin of market surveys "Industry", prepared by the laboratory of market surveys of the Institute for the Economy in Transition (IET).

France and Germany agreed on a new alliance Yesterday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced at a meeting in Hannover that they had found a compromise on the creation of a Mediterranean Union. This initiative from Paris previously raised concerns in Berlin about the emergence of “infighting” between EU members. However, yesterday Merkel agreed with Sarkozy that this project will become pan-European. “We act hand in hand,” declared Monsieur Sarkozy.

The St. Petersburg court gave a “respite” to the skating rink on Palace Square The skating rink, opened in early December on Palace Square in the northern capital, will not only fully fulfill the period allotted to it by the local authorities, but will also melt away, being completely “clean” before the law . Yesterday, the city court of St.

February was a month of interesting personal manifestations on television. Starting with Father Tikhon’s film “The Death of an Empire. The Byzantine Lesson,” which the Rossiya channel showed on weekdays and, apparently, at the request of the workers, repeated on the weekend.

After the rosy speeches of the successor (now the President of the Russian Federation), there was a whiff of thaw and perestroika in the air, and our political television, with its nose to the wind, immediately began to waver along with the new party line. Several unkempt semi-opposition characters appeared on the silver screen, and Vladimir Pozner in his “Times” directly stated that the native state should leave absolutely all the media to private owners and get away from them.

Vladimir Lukin evaluates Moscow police officers from the perspective of Saltykov-Shchedrin An original method of preventing xenophobia and extremism , adopted by the capital’s police, who collect explanatory notes and fingerprints from young Muscovites, may come to the attention of Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin. True, so far the Ombudsman’s Office has not received any official complaints from teenagers and their parents caught up in the “Informal” operation carried out in Moscow. Mr.

The government tried to convince economists that it could combine GDP growth and the fight against inflation As it turned out at yesterday's meeting of Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov with academicians and simply well-known economists of the country at the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation, over the last two months of his tenure in this position, the current prime minister wants to achieve a breakthrough in the economy.

The Central Election Commission and the Public Chamber protected the presidential elections from suspicions Chairman of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov, together with member of the Public Chamber Andrei Przhezdomsky, who oversees the hotline of the Russian Foundation for Free Elections for communication with voters, tried to dispel all doubts about the fairness and openness of the presidential elections yesterday.