#8
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 21, 2001
- Questions for Russian President Vladimir Putin are still pouring in - he will answer some of them live on the ORT and RTR television channels on December 24th.
- The state of emergency is still in effect on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus; electricity supplies have been partially restored in the Krasnodarsk krai.
- Deputy Minister Viktor Khristenko met with a number of regional leaders to discuss the performance of electricity and heating enterprises.
- Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres answered some questions for ORT. He expressed his hopes that Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat is truly in control of the situation in the occupied territories, noted that terrorism is a global development, and asserted that he hopes Russia will maintain good relations with Arab nations as well as with Israel -- since Israel also seeks friendly relations with the Arab states.
- The new Gepard nuclear submarine has arrived at its permanent station -- the Gadzhievo naval base of the Northern Fleet.
- Reports came in today that the Imandra floating technical station collided with a decommissioned nuclear submarine on December 13th. According to the emergency services of the Northern Fleet and the Murmansk [office of] marine sea-faring, the Imandra was not damaged.
- The first contemporary meeting of the Russian Marine College tool place in the St. Petersburg Admiralty. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.
- President Putin has begun his two-day visit to Great Britain. At today's meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in Blair's suburban residence, President Putin discussed the struggle against international terrorism, Russian-NATO relations, the situation in Afghanistan and bilateral commercial and economic relations.
- The fall draft has almost ended. Over 5,000 young men have been sent out from Moscow to military divisions. It's been found, however, that the conduction of the conscription is sometimes unorthodox. Yesterday, about 25 young men of draft age were detained on the street and forcibly brought to the recruitment center.
- A new gun model -- the GSh-18 (developed by weapons manufacturers Gryazev and Shipunov) -- was presented at a scientific-technical conference of Tula armorers. The GSh-18 has been tested in Chechnya, and has proved to be an excellent weapon.
- Prime Minister Kasyanov thinks that the recent crisis in Argentina could not be repeated in Russia.
- The Russian State Duma has passed the Labor Code in the third reading. A special commission has made about 4,000 corrections to the original bill.
- In London, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov met with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. They discussed, among other issues, bilateral cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- A major fire on Moscow's Mir Avenue has been extinguished; no one was injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
- The Rostov Oblast court has found former Novocherkassk prosecutor Nikolai Voskresov guilty of bribery, abuse of position, and wrongful arrests.
- The Declaration of the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States was signed 10 years ago in Alma-Ata.
- A powerful explosion rocked an apartment building in the center of Krasnoyarsk. The bomb was placed in the drainage pipes near the apartment of Pavel Struganov [Pasha Tsvetomuzyka], notorious criminal and deputy candidate of the Krasnoyarsk Legislative Assembly. The neighboring apartment was damaged, but none of its residents were hurt. A case against Krasnoyarsk entrepreneur Anatoly Bukov, who is accused of plotting Struganov's murder has been under investigation.
- All stationary police posts on the highway to Georgia were closed for fear of an avalanche.
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