United Russia members present Putin with 'symbolic' clay boat
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110204/162444029.html
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was presented with a small clay handicraft boat steered by a bear figurine by members of the Kirov Region branch of the ruling United Russia party during his visit to the region on Thursday.
Kirov is one of 12 Russian regions that will elect regional legislative assemblies on March 13.
Putin said the boat, which also had other figurines on board, symbolized that "we are all in one boat, and that the bear is the one at the helm."
The bear is a symbol of the United Russia party. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's surname also comes from the Russian world "medved" meaning "bear."
"I think it was just a coincidence, but this is a nice symbol for United Russia," Putin, the party leader, said.
KIROV, February 4 (RIA Novosti)
Last Updated: Friday, February 4, 2011, 06:05 GMT 09:05 MCK
"Day of Wrath" will be held at the Kremlin in Moscow
http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/rolling_news/2011/02/110204_rn_anger_day_moscow.shtml
The Moscow City Government has agreed to hold the rally, "Day of Wrath" in the city center at Theater Square, reported on its website the movement Left Front.
Thus, Moscow's "Day of Wrath" will be held on Saturday, February 12 at the monument of Karl Marx.
Action agreed for the first time last year - according to the organizers, in 2010 the Moscow city government seven times refused to agree on the "Day of Wrath".
The organizers of the "Day of Anger" will perform movements of the Moscow Soviet movement Odnodolschiki, "Movement for Khimki forest," Housing solidarity ", the Moscow car owners, the Council of Moscow workers and others.
Most documentation destroyed in burning court building
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15922123&PageNum=0
04.02.2011, 10.38
VOLGOGRAD, February 4 (Itar-Tass) -- Most of the documents have been destroyed in the court building fire in Volgograd, firemen working at the site told reporters.
In the fight against the blaze, water was poured on all the three floors, and documents that did not burn were destroyed by water, they said.
The fire alarm signal was received at 02:56 Moscow time on Friday.
The first floor in the building is occupied by the Voroshilovsky district court, the second by bailiffs and on the third is the district prosecutor's office.
The blaze has been brought under control. More than 50 firefighters are continuing working there. They use 16 engines.
After the blaze is extinguished, investigators, police and specialists from the prosecutor's office will begin working there. All possible versions of the fire causes, including arson, will be checked. It is already known, that the fire began spreading from two rooms on the first floor. The blaze rapidly spread in the old building. Afire were about 400 square metres.
District court building afire in Volgograd
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15921831&PageNum=0
04.02.2011, 08.11
VOLGOGRAD, February 4 (Itar-Tass) -- A three-storey building of a district court in Volgograd is afire. Nobody has been hurt.
The fire alarm signal was received at 02:56 Moscow time, the head of the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s regional department, Ilona Yegorova, told Itar-Tass.
Two rooms on the first floor were afire first, but the blaze rapidly spread over the entire old building.
About 400 square metres were ablaze at 06:30. Fifty firefighters are working at the site. They use 16 engines. Water is poured on all the three floors, the spokeswoman said.
The Voroshilovsky district court occupies the first floor. On the second floor are bailiffs, and on the third is the district prosecutor's office.
PRESS DIGEST - Russia - Feb 4
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/press-digest-russia-feb-idINLDE71301W20110204
MOSCOW | Fri Feb 4, 2011 2:10pm IST
MOSCOW Feb 4 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- AAR, the consortium of Russian shareholders of TNK-BP (TNBP.MM) may sell its stake in the oil firm to Rosneft (ROSN.MM) or the Russian government, the daily reports, citing four sources.
- Russia will make 14 Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes this year and plans to raise the production to 60-70 aircraft a year by 2013, according to Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko.
- Russia will buy this year two mid-range Airbus planes and two Italian Agusta helicopters for the use by Kremlin officials, the daily says.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- President Dmitry Medvedev criticized on Thursday Russia's security forces for hasty reports on the results of the investigation into a suicide blast at Domodedovo airport last month which killed at least 36 people.
- About 48 percent of Russians are reported to have got used to terrorists' attacks in their everyday life, according to public opinion surveys.
ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA
www.rg.ru
- Russia's defence ministry is planning to raise the number of officers in the army to 220.000 in connection with creation of space defence forces, the daily reports.
Russian Press at a Glance, Friday, February 4, 2011
http://en.rian.ru/papers/20110204/162446298.html
08:33 04/02/2011
POLITICS
Russian investigators have brought attempted bribery charges against former director of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Yelena Kotova. Sources have suggested that the bribery scandal could be a result of Kotova’s bid for the position of the bank’s vice president.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev took an indirect dig at Prime Minister Vladimir Putin over the Domodedovo Airport blast, stating Thursday that officials should not speak of the attack as being "solved" yet - as Putin had done hours earlier.
(Moscow Times, Kommersant, Vedomosti, Rossiiskaya Gazeta, Izvestia)
Moscow's Savyolovsky Court held on Thursday hearings on a libel lawsuit against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin filed by opposition figures Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Ryzhkov and Vladimir Milov. In his annual call-in show on December 16, 2010, Putin asserted that the three opposition figures had stolen billions of dollars together with now-exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky in the 1990s. The opposition called Putin’s unwillingness to take responsibility for his words a “shame.”
(Kommersant)
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Anatoly Antonov, a professional diplomat and the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department in charge of security and disarmament, as a deputy defense minister responsible for ties with foreign defense institutions.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
BUSINESS
Russia’s elite are the least likely out of 22 nations to trust their country's business institutions. Only 41 percent of those surveyed expressed confidence in businesses, says the Edelman Trust Barometer, which produces an annual report on public trust around the world.
(Moscow Times)
Russian food and consumer goods retailer Dixy Group is planning to acquire another Russian retailer, Viktoria. The deal, worth 20 billion rubles ($679 million), will make Dixy one of the country’s five largest retailers.
(Kommersant, Vedomosti)
Russian investors called on the government to be more ambitious in pursuing its privatization policy and sell up to 100 percent of some state-owned companies.
(Moscow Times)
Renault will spend 5.7 billon euros ($7.76 million) on the development of its businesses in Brazil, India and Russia by 2013, and most of the money will be invested in Russia. The company’s plans include the modernization of Russian car makers AutoVaz and Izhavto, as well as the construction of an automobile plant in Russia’s Far East.
(Vedomosti)
Russia will begin exporting black caviar again after a nine-year break, but exports will not exceed 150 kg a year.
(Izevstia)
The Russian Interior Ministry’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the embezzlement of 12.7 billion rubles ($431 million) from Moscow government funds. Investigators intend to question former and current government members and the heads of the Inteko construction company owned by the billionaire wife of dismissed Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
International consulting company Brand Finance has published its annual rating of the 500 largest banks. Eight Russian banks, worth altogether almost $16 billion, are in the list, while the 2009 rating included 10 Russian companies.
(Kommersant)
A lack of feedback between businesses and the state remains one of the main causes of economic decline in Russia. The authorities often treat companies as “lobbyists” rather than as a modernization force.
(Vedomosti)
An increase in oil prices amid continuing unrest in Egypt and seasonal trends have led to a significant strengthening of the Russian ruble, which is expected to continue.
(Vedomosti)
SOCIETY
Russians have got used to terrorist attacks. According to a poll by the Levada Center, 48 percent of Russians believe that terrorist attacks have become routine. Most of the citizens said only military operations, not social and economic reforms in volatile regions, can yield results and put an end to terrorism.
(Kommersant)
A total of 1.789 million people were born in Russia last year, almost 28,000 more than in 2009, according to Russian statistics service Rosstat. But the number of deaths has also increased, standing at 2.031 million, which means Russia still has a demographic crisis.
(Rossiiskaya Gazeta)
Russian investigators have suspended a probe into the killing of Maksharip Aushev, a prominent Russian human rights activist and the owner of the opposition Ingushetia.org website, over a failure to establish the suspects. Aushev was shot in October 2009 in the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkariya, and Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika took the case under his personal supervision.
(Kommersant)
The Russian authorities need the support of the Church in addressing interfaith and social issues, said President Dmitry Medvedev, who took part in a Bishops' Council meeting on Thursday.
(Izvestia, Nezavisimaya Gazeta)
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All-Russia intends to continue church reforms. The patriarch has proposed the creation of the Highest Church Council intended to improve cooperation between church, state institutions and non-government organizations.
(Kommersant)
ENERGY
The alliance between BP and Russian oil company Rosneft may strengthen further: Rosneft may become the British company’s partner in its largest Russian project, TNK-BP.
(Vedomosti)
CULTURE
St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre will inaugurate its new stage not earlier than 2012. The reconstruction is estimated to cost at least 19.1 billion rubles ($648.5 million), which will make the Mariinsky Theatre building one of the most expensive in the world.
(Kommersant)
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