Top Duma official suggests booting opposition leaders from Russia

Top Duma official suggests booting opposition leaders from Russia

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), wants Yeltsin-era market oriented liberal Boris Nemtsov “and his team” ousted from Russia for good. According to Zhirinovsky, Nemstov and other opposition politicians, such as Vladimir Milov or Eduard Limonov, are actually enemies of Russia, intentionally acting so as to provoke a negative reaction towards the Russian authorities from the West. His comments came after Nemtsov complained that he had been banned from leaving Russia for failing to abide by a court order. The restriction, which was lifted by the end of the day, raised a wave of criticism from politicians in the EU and the US.

10:31 08/07/2011ALL NEWS

Moscow mayor dismisses official accused of power abuse.

http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/181712.html

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MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) — Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has signed an order removing deputy chief of the city's health department Sergei Volkov from the state service. Volkov is charged with power abuse.

The mayor's office reported that "Volkov was relieved of the position and dismissed from the city civil service on his own initiative."

The official was detained in late June on suspicion of attempting to illegitimately take possession of an expensive apartment in central Moscow. Later, the Russian Investigative Committee brought a charge of power abuse against him (Article 285 of the Russian Criminal Code) in connection with the flat case.

According to the investigation materials, Volkov, using his official position, committed unlawful actions to take possession of a flat in central Moscow. As it has been established, the official, when he previously was first deputy head of the city's department for construction investment programmes, did not carried out a contact for the flat that was destined for a Moscow resident's family to improve their housing conditions. Without canceling the contract, Volkov gave directions to his subordinates not to fulfill it, but to conclude another sale contract for the same flat with his relative -- his wife's mother. Later, the apartment provided at a lower cost was sold at a market price.

A criminal case was opened over the fact under Article 285 and Article 292 of the Criminal Code (power abuse and forgery).

Moscow's Basmanny court has placed Volkov under home arrest.

The industrial production in Moscow increased by 11.9 percent in the first half of 2011, while it has grown in the same period last year with approximately four percent, Moscow's mayor Sergey Sobyanin said at a meeting.

"Also our other indicators have improved more than twice the national average. The number of officially registered unemployed has declined to 0.8 percent", said the mayor.

When it comes to the local economy, Sobyanin said: "It depends on the growth of industrial production and retail ... The growth in industrial output was 11.9 percent and sales of goods increased by 4.7 percent; tax revenue increases proportionately”.

Also salaries are on the rise. Wages rose by about 12 percent. The average monthly salary in Russia's capital is now just below 40,000 rubles net, equivalent to about 1.000 Euros. (Source: russland.RU – Internetzeitung)

11:35 08/07/2011ALL NEWS

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MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) —— Moscow will build near metro stations parking lots to house 62,000 vehicles, Deputy Mayor Petr Biryukov said on Friday.

“The objective is to use 25 locations near metro stations for construction of parking lots for about 12,000 vehicles, and this task is being implemented,” he said.

“Today, five of the city’s ten districts have started the process, and the full-fledged work will begin from July 25, as we finalize the competition procedures,” he continued. “We plan to finish the work in October.”

Additional parking lots for 50 vehicles are to be built in territories neighboring metro stations, he added.

“This is one of the most important tasks in solving the transport issues,” Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

11:55 08/07/2011ALL NEWS

MOSCOW, July 8 (Itar-Tass) — Commander of ISS Crew 28 Andrei Borisenko and flight engineer Alexander Samokutyayev work in the Russian segment this Friday for the second day to restart the Electron oxygen regeneration system.

The cosmonauts will be busy all the day long with the replacing of the liquid unit. The day before, they assembled and laid cables of the measurement system for the Electron, the official spokesman for the Mission Control Centre based near Moscow, Valery Lyndin, told Itar-Tass.

The new unit was delivered by the Progress M-11M cargo craft to the ISS last April.

The Electron system caused some problems for the crew in recent time. Since the old unit ran out of its resource long ago, the maintenance and repair work was done regularly aboard the station, and it took much time.

According to the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, space expedition duration record holder Sergei Krikalyov, the ISS crew could not start the reserve unit of the Electron system so long because the unit lay in the "storehouse" too long.

The old unit was expected to work for 365 days, but it worked for more than three resource periods. Since nobody on the earth expected it to operate so long, a new unit was delivered to the orbit by the planned time (in a year). It lay in the Russian segment too long, and as a result it caused the problems to start it.

Krikalyov noted the regular malfunctions of the Electron system did not have any effect on the crew life support. There are more than enough oxygen blocks. In addition, there are oxygen reserves in the Russian Progress cargo craft.

There are three oxygen supply systems aboard the International Space Station -- the Electron, which produces oxygen from water, a solid fuel generator and oxygen cylinders in the Russian and American segments. In case of failure of one of the systems, the other two are used.