#2
ORT Review
www.ortv.ru
Compiled by Luba Schwartzman (luba7@bu.edu)
Research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and
Policy
at Boston University
HEADLINES,
Thursday, November 08, 2001
- The headquarters of the Federal Border Troops in Tajikistan reports that the situation on the Tajik-Afghan border is tense but under control. The headquarters' press center has also disputed reports that Russian border guards are fighting Taliban divisions.
- Information on the fate of Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelaev has become available -- he was seriously wounded and is currently undergoing treatment in a Georgian hospital. The remainder of Gelaev's division has returned to the Pankisi Gorge. Georgian President Edvard Shevarnadze declared that the Georgian authorities have no reason to believe that Gelaev is a terrorist: "Gelaev's men commited no crimes in the Pankisi gorge" he said.
- President Shevarnadze also announced that Aslan Abashidze could become Georgia's new prime minister in the near future.
- Two presidential consultative councils have been created: The Science and High-Tech Council and the Arts and Culture Council. - The Collegium of the Federal Security Service held a visiting session in Kaliningrad. Security officers wanted to personally evaluate the situation in the region. The fight against the drug trade and smuggling were at the top of the agenda.
- Most of the investigators working on the case of the Kursk are clearing the 2nd and 3rd sections of the nuclear submarine.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the leaders of Russia's armed forces to discuss questions of strategic stability, and the fight against terrorism. In particular, they spoke about limiting strategic offensive weapons.
- President Putin had a telephone conversation with American President George W. Bush. They discussed their upcoming meeting and exchanged opinions on the Russian-American cooperation on the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan.
- Prince Charles of Whales has arrived in Riga. His visit is timed to the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Republic's independence. - The ammunition and explosives found in Moscow yesterday were designated for terrorist attacks in Russia's capital.
- An accident on the Trans-Siberian railroad held up traffic for twelve hours. A commercial train heading from Taishet to Novosibirsk had derailed. Four hundred meters of tracks were damaged, but there were no human casualties.
- Winter preparations and laws on production were discussed at today's cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has a cold, so the meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko.
- Ambulance workers at the Shkotovo regional hospital have joined the 20 hospital employees on their hunger strike in demand for the payment of back wages. Local authorities owe hospital workers 450,000 rubles. The administration of Primoriye's Shkotovo region has only allocated 150,000 for the payments.
- The trial of Chechen terrorist Salman Raduev will begin on November 15th. Baguzha Unzholov, a judge of the Dagestan Supreme court, will be presiding.
- Three people, including a 14-year old youth, died when the driver of a passenger bus lost control of the vehicle over black ice and crashed into the Sheksna river in the Vologod oblast. Seventeen of the other passengers have been hospitalized with hypothermia.
- A Swedish delegation of army officers has arrived to the Murmansk oblast's Pecheng base on an exchange program.
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