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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,
Friday, December 07, 2001
- Presidential elections will be held in the Moldavia's separatist region, Transdniester. The three candidates are incumbent Igor Smirnov, former head of the Bender city administration Tom Zenovich, and Supreme Council of the PRM (Transdniester Moldavian Republic) deputy Aleksandr Radchenko.
- The authorities in Nizhegorod have granted draftees a right to choose -- they can either enter the army or work as medical attendants at a hospital. Only 22 men took advantage of this option, but the military grudges even that small number of soldiers, and would like the experiment to be cancelled altogether.
- Every day the military court in Vladikavkaz reviews about 200 grievances concerning non-payment of wages. A total of 11,000 complaints have been collected so far.
- Presidential Plenipotentiary to the Southern Federal District Viktor Kazantsev has arrived in Grozny to meet with local administration members. He stated that the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya could be completed as early as in the spring of next year.
- The Minsk meeting of the Committee of the Security Council Chairmen of the Collective Security Agreement nations has ended.
- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met with the command of the 201st Russian division stationed in Tajikistan. He also spoke with Afghani Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and the humanitarian aid Russia has been providing. In the evening, Ivanov met with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov. In addition, earlier that morning, on board the plane on the way to the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, the defense minister gave a press-conference.
- Seventy-five bodies have been removed from the Kursk nuclear submarine so far. Seventy-one of them have been identified. Work inside the Kursk continues.
- The future changeover to a professional army was discussed at today's cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stated that the first steps of the reform should be taken in 2004, but that all of the necessary calculations should be made immediately.
- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov met with NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson to discuss raising the level of relations between NATO and Russia to a new level. Ivanov is also scheduled to meet with his American counterpart Colin Powell.
- On the second day of his official visit to Greece, President Putin met with Prime Minister Konstantinos Simitis, visited the Acropolis and brought a wreath to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
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