It is becoming more profitable to extract raw materials abroad than to develop Russian deposits As part of its foreign expansion, Russia's largest private oil company LUKOIL has reached Africa. The company invited Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to cooperate in the development of the country's oil fields.

Fursenko acquired advisers The new president of the Russian Football Union, Sergei Fursenko, appointed the sports director of the capital's Dynamo, Konstantin Sarsania, as his advisor. At the same time, Sarsania will combine work at the RFU and at the club. Fursenko and Sarsania collaborated at Zenit St. Petersburg, where the former was the president of the club, and the latter its sports director.

Jean-Marc Bustamant at the Catherine Cultural Foundation As part of the Year of Russia - France, Muscovites saw a large personal exhibition of the famous European artist Jean-Marc Bustamante. The vernissage at the Ekaterina Foundation on Kuznetsky Most was held with great fanfare. Among the French guests, in addition to the master Bustamante, revered in his homeland, was also the director of the Paris Pompidou Center Alfred Pakman, whose article opens the exhibition catalogue.

Official unemployment reached the same level as in April 2009 Official unemployment in Russia has quietly approached the levels of April last year. Yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Social Development, based on data provided by employment services, reported that there are 2.2 million officially registered unemployed in the country. Over the past week alone, the number of Russians registered with these institutions increased by 1.8%.

An elite village in Moskvoretsky Park can avoid the fate of “Rechnik” The destructive fuse of Moscow officials, who this year resolutely set out to clear the territory of the capital from unauthorized construction, will apparently bypass the elite village of Fantasy Island, which until recently was predicted to have the sad fate of the Rechnik gardening partnership.

The deputy head of the Moscow department of Rosimushchestvo was hit by water transport The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow yesterday issued an arrest warrant for the deputy head of the capital department of the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) Sergei Korchagin and his subordinate, deputy head of the federal property accounting department Dmitry Knyazev. They are accused of extorting a bribe of 10.5 million rubles.

January 5 -- February 5, 2010 “Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media,” a joint project of Vremya Novostey and the Medialogia company, are ratings of political figures actively discussed in the federal press and on air on central television channels. “Politicians Through the Eyes of the Media” are published weekly on Mondays: during the month you can get acquainted with the ratings of Russian governors, deputies, ministers and heads of foreign states and governments.

Problems already await the new president A dramatic period of turbulence in domestic and foreign policy is coming to an end in Ukraine. Instability cost the country dearly: the unnecessary crisis of 2005 and paralysis in governance during the global crisis of 2008-2010. We still have to overcome the post-election stage of restructuring the positions of the elites and, apparently, new elections to the Rada.

The Central Bank promised growth in lending this year The Bank of Russia lowered its forecast for overdue debt in the first half of the year. As Alexey Simanovsky, director of the department of banking regulation and supervision of the Central Bank, said yesterday, at the beginning of the year the share of overdue loans in Russian banks amounted to 5.4%, while by July 1 it may decrease. Previously, Mr. Simanovsky stated that debt growth could reach 11% by the middle of the year.

Today, at the invitation of the Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov, Marshal of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusevich arrives in Moscow on an official visit. The speaker of the upper house of the Polish parliament will be received by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Dmitry Medvedev. On the eve of the visit, Bogdan BORUSEVICH gave an interview to Vremya Novostei. - To what extent can the Senate in Poland influence international relations?

Natalya Komarova will become governor of the oil district The governor of the country's main oil region, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, will be a woman whose career is inextricably linked with Gazprom.

CONCERTS Boris Kurganov (USA, jazz). "Union of Composers" , 20.30. CLASSIC Evening of piano music. R. Schumann, F. Liszt, N. Paganini. Soloist B. Berezovsky (piano). Tchaikovsky Concert Hall , 19.00. Moscow State Concert Hall Symphony Orchestra. C. Saint-Saens, J. Bizet, G. Faure. Soloist N. Romanenko (piano). Conductor K. Esser (France). Conservatory , 19.00. THEATERS "Stories of Shukshin". Directed by Alvis Hermanis (Latvia).

John Thain has found a new job Former head of investment bank Merrill Lynch John Thain, accused of misuse of funds, will head the financial company CIT Group, which narrowly avoided bankruptcy last year. In 2007, Mr. Thain left his post as head of the transatlantic exchange operator NYSE Euronext and moved to the investment bank Merrill Lynch. The position of chief executive officer was also offered to him by Citigroup, the largest US bank at that time, but Mr.

Governors will be responsible for providing electronic services to the population Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Bashkiria yesterday. The region and its president, the elder of the Russian gubernatorial corps, Murtaza Rakhimov, greeted the head of the federal government with oriental hospitality. The guests from the center did not make any complaints, but, on the contrary, cited the republic as an example - especially in the field of information technology development.

Batagov and Feldman in Lyubimov's subscription With an unprecedented (at least for the 2000s) level of performance of complex music with a minimalist pedigree that is poorly integrated into concert formats, the participants in the last concert of Alexey Lyubimov’s composer series amazed the imagination, mind and ears of the audience, who came to the Rachmaninov Hall of the Conservatory in not too provocative numbers.