#4
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 29, 2001

- The leaders of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) nations are arriving in Moscow for tomorrow's CIS anniversary summit. President Putin is conducting a series of bilateral meetings. He met Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov for tea this morning to discuss Russian-Tajik relations. Later today, he met with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma -- economic issues were high on the agenda. Turkmen President Saparmurad Niazov, Moldavian President Vladimir Voronin and Georgian President Edvard Shavarnadze also arrived today. President Putin will meet with Shevarnadze tomorrow to discuss the question of the supposed bombings of the Pankissi Gorge, which Russian officials are currently denying.

- The heads of government of the CIS nations are also gathering in Moscow -- the first meeting was opened by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov. In summing up the first ten years of the CIS, Kasyanov said the results were successfully-satisfactory. He then listed a number of problems he believes still plague the Commonwealth.

- Mikhail Shmakov was reelected as Chairman of the Federation of Independent Labor Unions of Russia.

- Lithuanian truck drivers are planning a protest on the Russian-Latvian border. They say that Russian customs officers are checking their vehicles too attentively, leaving some 300 trucks to wait in traffic. Some of them have been here for as long as six days. At 23:00 Moscow time the truck drivers will block the border for several hours. According to the Russian Customs Committee, 32 Lithuanian firms have been found to smuggle goods.

- The Russian General Prosecutor's office has indicted two highly-placed customs officers of abusing their privileges, costing the state $2.5 million.

- The third and final reading of the 2002 budget will take place in the Russian State Duma tomorrow. On the eve of the discussions, Deputy Prime minister Aleksei Kudrin consulted with the deputies for the last time.

- Eight people in Mineralnye Vody are demanding compensation for the injuries received as a result of a terrorist act at the city's market last March. Unlike the other victims, who received payment, these eight people were not on the list. Now they are going to various administrative offices to clear up the confusion.

- The city court of Rostov has sentenced Movlda Khasanov, a member of Salautdin Temirbulatov's "Traktorist" gang to 15 years in prison.

- Construction is in progress throughout Groznyy. Experts say that, while there is not a single house in the city that was not damaged in the fighting, most of the buildings will not need to be demolished to be rebuilt.

- Dozens of people came to the Novodevichye cemetery to put flowers on the grave of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was executed by fascists 60 years ago. The nineteen-year old withstood torture and refused to lead the fascists to a partisan hideout.

- An assassination attempt against the Gaidar Gadzhiev, the military commander of the Urus-Martanov region, took place today. A young woman, strapped with explosives came up to Gadzhiev pretending to want to ask him something. A soldier standing next to Gadzhiev died when the explosives were detonated. The commander and another soldier received serious injuries.

- Cadre changes to the Federation Council were discussed today. Federation Council Speaker Yegor Stroev will leave his position and will not participate in the 5 December elections. He explained that, above all, he has to be loyal to his people.

- The Yalunino village of the Sverdlov region has been cut off from civilization -- they have no light, no heat, and no water after thieves cut off 10 kilometers of electricity wires. The regional administration explained that there is no money in the budget to replace the cable and the residents need to gather 23,000 dollars.

- In Vladivostok, soldiers who have been retrained in civilian professions at the special Far East Center of the Vladivostok University are taking part in a job fair. This is a six-year old tradition. The first year, 13 enterprises came to find new employees here -- now there are 42 companies.

- Military engineers are conducting training exercises in the Volgograd region -- they are using a special machine to clear a field of mines.