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#5
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,
Tuesday, December 11, 2001

- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has arrived in Rostov-na-Donu to meet with local military officials about the situation in Chechnya, inspect the battle-readiness of military divisions in the North Caucasus military district and discuss the fortification of the Russian-Georgian border.

- The Yakutian Prosecutor's Office has announced the preliminary findings in the investigation of the election activity of visiting political technicians. According to the information, a special top-secret Project Yakutia was developed in Moscow to discredit the primary candidates in the presidential elections. A certain Evgeny Dushko organized the project.

- Yakutia's Supreme Court has delayed the question of incumbent Mikhail Nikolaev's candidacy for the third time. The court is now scheduled to review the case on December 14th.

- Georgian parliamentarian Koba Davitashvili has made a series of accusations against the Georgian government. He declared that the government does not have the political willpower to bring order to the country. In particular, he mentioned the lawlessness in the Pankisi Gorge.

- Russian businessmen expect the new European currency to be very helpful to the development of bilateral relations and investment.

- Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has once again refuted reports that Russian soldiers are taking part in military operations in Afghanistan.

- State Duma deputies are preparing for the third and final reading of the new version of the Labor Code. Members of centrist factions are certain that the document will be approved.

- Presidential Plenipotentiary to the Central Federal District Georgii Poltavchenko was asked whether -- as of January 1st -- a governor can be fired if his region is recognized to be bankrupt. He explained that there is a legal provision for this, but that such measures would be applied only in certain sensitive situations.

- The trial of Chechen terrorist Salman Raduev is coming to an end. General Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov will read his final statement tomorrow. He is going to demand a life sentence for Raduev and a 15-year imprisonment for the former deputy prime minister of Ichkeria, Turpal Atgeriev. The people of Dagestan would like to see Raduev executed, but for this, a moratorium would have to be placed on the prohibition of the death sentence.

- Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Fleet Vladimir Kuroedov has officially presented the new Northern Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Gennady Suchkov.

- A monument -- the only one in the world -- to Russian poet Osip Mandelstam was rededicated in Vladivostok. The original sculpture was destroyed by hooligans in 1999.

- An operation to seek out the homeless in Kaliningrad has been completed. About a thousand police officers took part in the raid. Twenty-eight people were the detained and brought to special shelters, where they received food, shelter, and help in reapplying for documents. Similar operations will be conducted on a regular basis.

- Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matvienko will conduct a meeting with a number of regional leaders to discuss measures to deal with homeless children. Mativienko stated that over 360,000 children in Russia do not attend school. Over a million children do not live with their parents or guardians -- they are easy prey for criminals, sexual assailants, and drug dealers.

- A communication center is now operational in Grozny, allowing residents to call anywhere in the world -- although they often have to wait in line for over an hour to do so. A beauty salon has also been opened, and small improvised markets are sprouting up throughout the city.

- Security Council Chairman conducted a meeting in the Kremlin today to discuss the elimination of chemical weapons. Russia has promised to destroy all chemical weapons reserves at three sites -- in Udmurtia, in the Saratov region and in the Kurgan region.

- A memorandum on the Russian-Canadian cooperation on the development of Russia's Northern regions was signed during Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov's visit to Ottawa.

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