ORT Review
www.ortv.ru
Compiled by Luba Schwartzman ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and
Policy at Boston University
HEADLINES,
Thursday, October 04, 2001
- The Khabarovsk airport has been closed due to the forest fires, which
currently engulf 52,999 hectares and consist of 38 separate centers.
The Far East Emergencies Ministry division has received 2 million rubles
to aid the fire-fighting campaign. Another 2 million will be allocated
shortly.
- According to the latest reports, 15 Russian citizens were on board the
TU-154 flight that exploded over the Black Sea. Russian President
Vladimir Putin told justice ministers of the European Union that the
possibility that the catastrophe was a result of a terrorist action
should not be excluded.
- General Boris Gromov, the former commander of the Soviet troops in
Afghanistan and current governor of the Moscow oblast, stated that a
land operation in Afghanistan can not succeed.
- A division of Georgian and Chechen fighters has captured Georgievsk, a
settlement in Abkhazia. One Abkhaz soldier died in the conflict and
seven local resident are missing. Two positions of Abkhaz peacekeepers
have been cut off from the main military base.
- A new director has been appointed at Moscow's Butyrskaya prison.
Vladimir Stupin previously spent seven years as the head of a colony in
the Saratov oblast. Former director Rafik Ibragimov is not being held
responsible for the recent escapes. Rather, according to the Russian
Justice Ministry, the pathetic state of the prison is to blame. As part
of the investigation of the escape of prisoner Ivan Vinogradov, all
prison guards will undergo a lie detector test.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair will arrive in Moscow shortly on an
unofficial visit. Blair is expected to discuss closer cooperation
between NATO and Russia as well as international cooperation in the
struggle against terrorism at a meeting with President Putin.
- Aleksandr Yakovenko, an official representative of the Russian Foreign
Ministry, has announced that, in connection with the recent terrorist
act in Srinagar, about 100 Russian citizens will be evacuated from
Pakistan in the near future.
- A secondary hearing concerning the murder of General Lev Rokhlin has
begun in the Naro-Fominsky city court. The victim's widow, Tamara
Rokhlina was convicted of the murder in November of 2000, but the
eight-year sentence was reduced to four years in December and later,
Rokhlina was released so she could to take care of her son, who suffers
from psychological problems. Rokhlina continues to insist that her
husband was killed in a contract murder, and that she plead guilty to
avoid retribution to her family.
- Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov is in Ukraine to conduct talks
regarding the reconstruction of gas debts. A document detailing the
conditions is expected to be signed; it will go in effect if approved by
the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments.
- The Russian cabinet discussed the construction of a 12-kilometer
bridge to Sakhalin. This project is considered more economical than the
tunnel planned by, and abandoned after the death of, Joseph Stalin.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
