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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 28, 2001
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the former chairman of the presidential pardon commission, Anatoly Pristavkin, and thanked the members of the commission -- which was recently dismissed -- for its ten years of work.
- President Putin met with leading members of the Accounting Chamber to share his vision for the organization. He would like it to become a modern, democratic, politically neutral, and independent mechanism for controlling the budget.
- Moscow's heavy traffic has been exacerbated by the recent snowfall. For the past week, cars move at the pace of pedestrians during rush hour.
- Ingush President Ruslan Aushev announced that he will sign an official document relinquishing his position by the end of the day.
- Three days before the New Year, eighteen teachers in the Olga region of Primorie (Maritime region) have begun a hunger strike, demanding the payment of back wages. The Primorie administration forwarded a million rubles to the Olga region -- enough to give each teacher a 300 ruble [$10] advance for the New Year. The protesters refused the money, insisting on a full payment.
- President Putin met with the seven presidential plenipotentiaries to the federal districts to discuss the results of the past year of their work, the distribution of power between the center and the regions, and the creation of federal district commissions for supporting the development of small business.
- The Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Yakutia has officially scheduled the second round of presidential elections for January 13th. ALROSA Diamond Company President Vyacheslav Shtyrov (who collected over 45 % of the vote in the first round) and SAPI Financial-Industrial Group President Fedot Tumosov (17%) will be on the ballot.
- An unusual play about Vladimir Vysotsky was performed at Moscow's Taganka Theater.
- As of January 1st, OPEC will cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day.
- In Tatarstan, a new bridge has been constructed over the Kama River.
- Four more sailors from the Kursk nuclear submarine have been buried in St. Petersburg.
- Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matvienko honored 111 scientists and teachers (mainly school and college text-book authors) with presidential awards for their contribution to education in the Russian Federation.
- A fire broke out in the boiler room of the Safil-1 trawler, which had been navigating near Japan. Japanese rescue workers evacuated the 23 crew members and transported them to the Korsakov Port on the Sakhalin Island. There is no threat of an oil spill.
- A symbolic "change of power" took place in Moscow. City Mayor Yuri Luzhkov handed over the keys to the city to Ded Moroz [Father Frost], who will reign over the city until January 13th. A carnival procession followed Ded Moroz through the city streets.
- As the New Year approaches, illegal fireworks are flooding the Russian market, primarily from Poland through Kaliningrad.
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