#4 - JRL 6586
TV1 Review
www.1tv.ru
Compiled by Luba Schwartzman (luba_sch@hotmail.com)
Research Analyst, Center for Defense Information, Moscow office

HEADLINES,
Tuesday, December 3, 2002

- Russian Ambassador to Denmark Nikolai Bordyuzha was invited to the Danish Foreign Ministry to hear the Danish position Akhmed Zakaev, who will not be extradited to Russia and would not face criminal charges. The Danish government feels that the evidence presented against Zakaev is inconclusive.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov declared that this decision has political implications.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin ended his visit to China with a trip to the Great Wall of China and a speech at the Bejing University and headed on to Deli, India. In the evening, President Putin had an informal working dinner with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Tomorrow he will attend official meetings with the prime minister, the members of the parliament and the president. Declarations on strategic partnership and economic cooperation will be signed in the course of Putin's visit.

- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov returned from his two-day trip to Germany, where he met with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and representatives of Germany's political and business elite. Kasyanov expressed overall satisfaction with the trip.

- Sadi Sharifov, the 79-year-old father of Lukoil Vice President Vagit Sharifov was kidnapped in his home in Georgia. No information is available on the kidnappers and no demands been received so far.

- Over the next few years security cameras will be installed in all Moscow building entrances, on roofs and in basements. So far, 1263 entrances in Moscow's Tverskoi region are under surveillance.

- Triumph youth award recipients have been announced. They are: cellist Natalya Gutman, painter Natalya Nesterova, writer Ludmila Petrushevskaya, film director Aleksandr Sokurov and violinist Viktor Tretyakov.

- Eight generals from the Ukrainian Air Force may be held responsible for the July 27th SU-27 crash at the Lvov airshow by the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's Offfice.

- Gasprom Chairman Aleksei Miller declared that a new route for exporting Russian natural gas to Europe will be prepared by 2007.

- Less than a week remains until the parliamentary election campaign in St. Petersburg. Central Electoral Commission Chairman Aleksandr Veshnyakov announced that he will personally oversee the progress of the election. There is currently an average of 8 contenders for every one of the 50 seats.

The elections will be considered valid if at least 20% of the electorate participate.

- Former KGB officer Nikolai Larionov is on trial for genocide in Latvia.

- Speaking at the 4th Conference of the Association of Control and Accounting Organs in Russia, Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin announced that the tax burden on the national economy will be lowered next year as the use of funds is jointly monitored by the Accounting Chamber and the security services.

- The Space Shuttle Endeavor is returning to Earth, bringing back mission commander Valery Korzun, first flight engineer Peggy Whitson and second flight engineer Sergei Treshchev. The cosmonauts, who spent six months in orbit instead of three, successfully completed all their assignments.

- A Tu-154 airplane flying between Yamburg and Krasnodar made a forced landing in the Ufa airport after one of the engines failed. None of the 8 crew members or 136 passengers were hurt.