Vladimir Putin visited old and new allies in Abkhazia A month after President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to South Ossetia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Abkhazia yesterday. He promised to help Abkhazia create a full-fledged national economy and to use military force against its enemies if they tried to start a war. Russia is still the only country that recognizes the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since August 26 last year.

70 years ago Moscow had to fight in Mongolia to secure its eastern borders The main historical date of this month is August 23. Next week, historians and political scientists will argue with particular urgency about the events of seventy years ago. However, the disputes began immediately and did not stop from the moment when, on August 23, 1939, the world was struck by the news of the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact in the Kremlin.

The prefect of the Northern District of Moscow did not approve of the menu of a Vietnamese restaurant Former deputy head of Rosprirodnadzor, and now prefect of the Northern Administrative District of Moscow Oleg Mitvol, who when he was a federal official gained fame thanks to various kinds of audits, while in his new post, again discovered violators of environmental legislation. This time, Mr.

The population census will take place no earlier than 2012 The All-Russian population census will be postponed for at least two years and will not take place before 2012. The fact that in the field of statistics the situation of 1999 is being repeated, when, due to default and economic difficulties, the long-planned census also did not take place on time, Deputy Head of the Federal State Statistics Service Alexander Surinov said yesterday at a press conference in Vladivostok.

Abkhazia successfully competes with Sochi The current summer season in Sochi, the largest health resort in Russia and the capital of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, will clearly be worse than last year. According to local travel agencies, the decline compared to 2008 figures will be about 30%.

The republic's construction minister was shot dead in Ingushetia Yesterday morning in Ingushetia, another high-profile murder was committed - in Magas, the Minister of Construction of the Republic, Ruslan Amerkhanov, was shot dead right in his office. Armed men in masks and camouflage went unhindered to his office, wounding his assistant, and then shot the official himself. Local authorities are in no hurry to assess what happened, only suggesting that “business issues” may be involved.

To the 40th anniversary of the ECM audio company In the August issue of the oldest and most prestigious American jazz magazine Down Beat, in the traditionally published critics' questionnaire, the German audio company ECM was named audio company of the year. Of course, this is partly a tribute to the anniversary: ​​the first record under the ECM label (stands for Editions of Contemporary Music) was released exactly 40 years ago. But it’s not only and not even so much about the round date.

Our biathletes found out the dates for returning to the ski slopes The Anti-Doping Commission of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) has finally made its decision regarding three Russian biathletes convicted of doping. This verdict was originally promised to be announced in early May. However, under various pretexts, members of the independent commission of the IBU came to a consensus only three months later.

“I have said more than once that Russia strives to be a predictable, strong, comfortable partner for its neighbors,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev once again said in a video blog addressed to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and announcing the Kremlin’s intention to suspend sending the Russian Ambassador to this country. In reality, Russia today is a weak, complex, uncomfortable and unpredictable partner, whose ambitions are greater than its real capabilities.

The Kepler space observatory begins operation The number of discovered exoplanets will increase significantly in the near future. Astronomers who received the first observational data from the Kepler space telescope are confident of this. After Science magazine published data from Kepler's first ten days of operation, it became clear that the space observatory would meet, and perhaps even exceed, the highest expectations placed on it by the scientific world.

The Vyborg Film Festival "Window to Europe" opened with a new film by Vladimir Khotinenko "Pop" was shown out of competition, however, the film does not renounce the general context: it is fully involved in the current meanings, moods and demands of national life - cinematic and broader. The current ideological attitude towards pride in the total greatness of the “rising from its knees” power needs to be strengthened from the rear.

Proponents of life on Mars have received a major blow. It turns out that methane, which is found on the Red Planet, is destroyed there much faster than on Earth. Consequently, the likelihood of even the simplest forms of life existing on Mars is very low. The atmosphere of Mars consists of 95% carbon dioxide and nitrogen with argon. In 2003, astronomers discovered methane on the Red Planet. In the atmosphere of the Red Planet, methane is distributed unevenly.

Angela Merkel and Dmitry Medvedev will decide the fate of German shipbuilders and automakers Tomorrow German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Sochi. Dmitry Medvedev made her an offer to visit the Black Sea residence in mid-July in Munich, during Russian-German interstate consultations . Mrs Merkel has just returned from her traditional holiday in Italy. The upcoming meeting with the Russian leader is the starting one on her post-vacation international calendar.

Former leadership of FFOMS sent to jail Yesterday, the Moscow City Court announced the verdict in the case of former leaders of the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (FFOMS), whom the jury had previously found guilty of receiving multimillion-dollar bribes and abuse of power.

E.ON's first half results were better than expected The largest German energy concern E.ON is successfully resisting the global crisis. The company's economic performance indicators for the first half of the year, announced yesterday at its headquarters in Düsseldorf, indicate that the results exceeded expectations. E.ON's profit before taxes and interest amounted to 5.7 billion euros, although analysts expected no more than 5.5 billion.