http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110113/162123676.html
Three people were killed as a gasoline tanker collided with a freight train at an uncontrolled railroad crossing in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region, the Emergency Situations Ministry reported.
It was not immediately clear why the crash occurred and who exactly died. No fuel leak was reported.
"The rail tracks are not damaged," the ministry said.
An investigation is underway.
IRKUTSK, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
Officials go on trial for hunting endangered animals in Siberia
http://en.rian.ru/Environment/20110113/162124768.html
A court case opened on Thursday in the southern Siberian Altai Republic in which several high-ranking officials are accused of hunting endangered animals leading to a deadly helicopter crash two years ago.
A Mi-17 Hip helicopter carrying government officials crashed near the Altai's Chernaya mountain in January 2009, killing seven people, including the Russian president's envoy to the State Duma, Alexander Kosopkin, and an environmental official.
It was subsequently alleged that the officials had been hunting endangered mountain sheep.
Four people survived the crash, including the republic's deputy prime minister, Anatoly Bannykh, deputy chief of a Moscow university, Nikolai Kapranov, and a State Duma official and businessman, Boris Belinsky.
The three officials were charged with illegal hunting and face up to two years in prison if found guilty.
A court spokesman said the trial will be closed to public.
The investigation into the case was previously closed two times, but was resumed on orders from Alexander Bystrykin, the chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's Office.
NOVOSIBIRSK, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Jan 13
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE70C0DO20110113
2:57am EST
MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Moscow city authorities have started talks with Gazpromneft on selling their 22.32 percent stake in a medium-size oil company Sibir Energy, the daily reports.
- Russian tycoon Gennady Timchenko is launching production of his water brand 'Aquanica' in the spring to gain Russian market share from its current leaders PepsiCo (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Coca-Cola (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
- Almost 10,000 people living in Moscow region are still cut off from energy supplies after snow falls and icy rains affect the region in December.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Italian banking group Unicredit (CRDI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is interested in buying the Bank of Moscow, however the city is likely to sell the stake in its banking arm to the country's second-largest state lender VTB (VTBR.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the daily says.
- Russia's law makers will consider the possibility of cutting the tax burden for small oil producers which could encourage them to raise oil production by 10.2 million tonnes in 2011 and by 214 million in the next decade, the daily says
- Mikhail Slobodin, who will replace Viktor Vekselberg as executive director of TNK-BP TNKBPI.RTS from Friday, has no plans to sell his nearly 15 percent stake in Russia's largest private company -- Integrated Energy System, according to an interview with Slobodin.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
www.rg.ru
- Russia's Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev describes ministry reforms which will come in force on March 1.
- Russia's Audit Chamber will check in 2011 the effectiveness of the economic policy of the government concerning modernisation and technical restructuring of the economy, the head of the watch-dog Sergei Stepashin says in an interview.
IZVESTIA
www.izvestia.ru
- U.S. Wendy's and Arby's fast-food chain will open its first restaurant in Russia this year and is planning to launch up to 180 restaurants in the next 10 years.
- Petrol prices in Russia will grow by summer to reach the level of European prices, according to experts.
Russian Press at a Glance, Thursday, January 13, 2011
http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110113/162124299.html
09:28 13/01/2011
© RIA Novosti. Rybchinskiy
POLITICS
The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) released a new report on the crash of a Polish presidential plane in April 2010, saying pilot error was the main cause of the tragedy. Poland says Russia is also to blame.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
The European Parliament has discussed measures to toughen policies against Belarus for the country's clampdown on opposition after December's presidential election saw the reelection of Alexander Lukashenko. Sanctions may be introduced in February.
(Kommersant)
The Stockholm arbitration court found three pieces of evidence that it says prove the Russian government seized the property of now bankrupt oil company Yukos.
(Vedomosti)
Russia's presidential administration has drafted a new anticorruption package, an official close to the anti-corruption council said.
(Vedomosti)
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
The protection of "strategic interests, defense capability and state security" is the reason now given by the Audit Chamber for classifying the results of its 2008 investigation into the alleged $4 billion worth of financial violations by state-owned pipeline operator Transneft
(Moscow Times)
A new Kremlin decree a decade in the making bans foreigners from buying land near federal borders, but analysts said the move would not harm foreign investment in the country.
(Moscow Times)
Capitalization of the Russian stock market has for the first time since the start of the 2008 financial crisis exceeded the $1 trillion mark.
(Kommersant)
The Moscow government is starting talks to sell its 22.32% stake in oil and gas company Sibir Energy to Russian energy giant Gazprom's oil arm Gazprom Neft. The deal, assessed at $900 million, could reduce the city's budget deficit.
(Kommersant)
Although Italy's UniCredit is also interested in buying a stake in the Bank of Moscow, the Russian capital could give up its plans for a tender and directly sell the package to Russia's second largest state lender VTB.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
The government wants at least 20% of federal officials to be fluent in a foreign language by 2020, and is even prepared to send them abroad to study.
(Moscow Times)
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has pledged to turn to the prosecutor's office to prevent Sergei Mavrodi, recently released from prison after serving a four-and-a-half-year sentence for fraud, from creating a new financial pyramid.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
The Federal Security Service recommended some Russian regions to ban free email services and Skype for state officials following the Wikileaks scandal.
(Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
IT
Two of the country's biggest telecommunications providers, Mobile TeleSystems and VimpelCom, are considering purchasing St. Petersburg-based operator Eltel
(Moscow Times)
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