#5 - JRL 7063
TV1 Review
www.1tv.ru
Compiled by Luba Schwartzman, luba_sch@hotmail.com
Research Analyst, Center for Defense Information, Moscow office

HEADLINES,
Thursday, February 13, 2003

- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the Mufti Magomed Albogachiev, the chairman of the Coordinating Center of Muslims for the South Caucasus. President Putin congratulated Muslims on the holiday of Kurban Bairam and inquired about the building of new mosques in Russia.

- The Reconstructive-Integrative congress of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was held ten years ago today. In a press conference held to mark the occasion, CPRF Chairman Gennady Zyuganov announced the party’s main goal: to lower the average age of party members from 55 to 45 years.

- Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak declared that the Law on local self-government is means to prevent officials from taking the law into their own hands. Kozak met with representatives of the Unity faction to discuss the draft of the law.

- The Cabinet has developed a Concept for the development of the job market over the next three years. Statistics show that unemployment has fallen in recent years, but the situation could change drastically. Overall unemployment in Russia is 6 million, or 8% of the working population.

- Deputy General Prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky declared that there are enough means and forces in Chechnya to maintain order during the upcoming referendum. Members of the electoral commissions are taking training classes on the fine details of filling out protocols and counting up votes.

- Chairwoman of the Committee for Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation Ella Pamfilova called upon human rights activists to support the upcoming referendum on the Chechen Constitution.

- Vyacheslav Mavrodi, the younger brother of the creator of the MMM financial pyramid was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months imprisonment for illegal acquisition of gold and gemstones and for illegal banking activity.

- Russian alpinists named three mountains in Antarctica after Georgy Zhukov, Saints Boris and Gleb, and Vladimir. They placed a sanctified orthodox cross at the top of the peak of Boris and Gleb.

- Russian national standards for products will now answer to international, rather than old Soviet, measures. This is one of the requirements for entry into the World Trade Organization. Another incentive is encouraging foreign investment.

- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is flying to New York for a meeting of the UN Security Council. He will also meet with a number of his counterparts to discuss bilateral issues.

- The angel at the top of the Peter and Paul Fortress has been reconstructed and lit up in advance of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.

- Verdi’s Requiem will be performed in Kazan at the 22nd Fedor Shalyapin Festival, held in honor of the 130th anniversary of the singer’s birthday.