Press 2010

Within the framework of preparation to the Olympic Games 2014, the Electronic Reading Room was opened in Sochi. The Electronic Reading Room for 10 ten workplaces is situated in the business-center of “Rus” resort complex.

In honor of the Day of security service employee Federal Protection Service gave to the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library documents on the history, theory and practice of the Russian statehood (dozens of documents, including Constitutions of subjects of the Russian Federation). Today all these documents are in the free access on the website of the library in the electronic collection “Constitution, the main law of the Russian Federation”.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library announces the beginning of the Olympiad “Russia in the digital area”, which is dedicated to the Russian seniors and students of primary and secondary vocational education. The first and second rounds of the Olympiad will be held remotely. 25 best young historians from the Russian regions will be invited to the final round and awards ceremony to Saint-Petersburg.

Within the framework of the festival “Night of music in Saint-Petersburg” in a conference hall of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library was a broadcast of a concert “Opera-gala” from St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory Opera & Ballet Theater. It was the first joint performance of the national artist of Russia Anna Netrebko and her husband, Uruguayan bass-baritone Edwin Shrott in Russia. The concert was broadcasted on the film screen and wide screen plasma monitors in HD, using library’s television complex.

In the framework of a joint meeting of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Belarus and Russia there was a gala opening of the Russian Science and Culture Center in Minsk. On the base of this center will work a platform of innovative cooperation between two countries. The virtual branch of the Russian Museum and Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library Electronic Reading Room are presented in the center.

On November 22 the cooperation agreement between the Government of Ryazan region and the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library was signed. Under the agreement a branch of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library will be opened in Ryazan. This branch will promote libraries revival and development in Ryazan region and support valuable documentary heritage of the region. Ryazan region is one of the seven experimental regions of Russia to be chosen for Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library’s branch foundation.

The winner of an international film festival held in Saint-Petersburg became film of Saint-Petersburg archeologists “Koliho. Secrets of the Caucasian dolmens” in the nomination “The best film on the history of Russia and popularization of historical science”. Popular-science film tells about discoveries made by scientists during the archeological work in the Valley of Koliho River in the Krasnodar region.

Council of Heads of Governments of CIS countries on trade and economic issues was held in the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library chaired by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Following the Council there was a meeting of prime ministers - members of the Eurasian Economic Community (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan).

In the framework of music festival “St. Petersburg embankments” at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library was held a unique concert of American tenor Michael Spyres. The aim of this project is to acquaint visitors with the still inaccessible to the public historic interiors of the Synod.

Winners of the International Photo Contest "Foreign View", held in the framework of Russian-Korean Forum, announced in St. Petersburg. Photo Contest was organized by the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library on the initiative of Saint-Petersburg State University rector Nikolay Kropachev. The theme of the contest was countries of the world. In the contest took part photos made by the Russians abroad and photos of Russia, made by foreigners. Competition works, relevant to the funds of the Presidential Library would be included in its digital archive.

The fifth international popular science film festival “The world of knowledge” opened at the the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. Films of filmmakers from the former Soviet Union, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia tell about research in various fields of knowledge: archeological finds, socio-cultural, historical, biological discoveries of scientists. The aim of this festival is to revive interest to popular science films, which can be afterwards available to visitors of the Presidential Library.

In the framework of scientific conference “Cultural heritage: creation of regional electronic information resources of cultural institutions”, which was held at the Synod, director general of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library Aleksandr Vershinin and director of the Russian State Historical Archive Aleksandr Sokolov signed an agreement on cooperation in the formation of funds. On the conference were considered the following issues: establishment of common standards for the description of library, archive and museum objects for access to electronic catalogs.

In the framework of the meeting of the Russian-American Working Group on library co-operation on October 21-22 in Washington was signed an agreement on the transfer by the Russian side audiovisual materials from the collection of State Film Fund. Russia gave to the U.S. 10 black and white films, being lost in the U.S. but preserved in Russia. In turn, the Russian side would work on finding in the U.S. lost Soviet films, copies of which have not survived in our country. The agreement would be the continuation of the common work of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library and the Library of Congress in the framework of agreements on cooperation in the interaction of national cultures in conjunction with other libraries, museums and archives in Russia and the United States.

Under the auspices of the Council of Rectors of St. Petersburg in the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library was held the international conference "University endowment funds: the practical aspects of creating and filling".

In Saint-Petersburg in November was held an international music festival "St. Petersburg embankments”. Concerts were held in the majestic mansions of XVIII-XIX century, located on the English Embankment. Each concert began with an excursion into the history of the building.

The international legal reading named after M. Speransky devoted to 180 years of publication of the complete collection of the laws of the Russian Empire was held in the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. During the discussion on the systematization of Russian legislation experts referred to the experience of the lawyers of the Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. In turn, General Director of the Presidential Library told the audience about the possibility of publishing the “E-Laws of the Russian Federation”.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia celebrated the bicentennial of the formation of internal troops in the Presidential Library. Within the framework of celebration was held a scientific-practical conference.

Delegation of specialists from the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library visited the Federal Archives in Berlin. Specialists of the Customer Service, Research, International Relations and Public Affairs Departments headed by director of the Electronic Reading Room Mrs. Ludmila Savelieva, acquainted with the archival and library holdings, digitization and search capabilities in the Internet.

Microsoft technologies in information systems of the Presidential Library

Our profile - Russian state

Interview with Director General of FGBU ‘Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library’, Doctor of Law, professor Alexander Vershinin.

Оriginal article (pdf) format here.

Fixed US feature films will be digitized and delivered to the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library.

The quadripartite agreement was signed on Friday in St. Petersburg by the President’s Affairs Administration Head Vladimir Kozhin, Director General of the Presidential Library Alexander Vershinin and CEOs of Gosfilmofond and the Russian company “System Mass Media”.

The agreement on creation and diffusion of television content conditions its selection, restoration, digitization and diffusion. Under the agreement “System Mass Media” is supposed to allocate means to Gosfilmofond for restoration and digitization of US feature films.

The restored movies on digital carriers will be delivered to the Presidential Library and soon be available to the library’s and regional centers’ patrons.

After that materials will be passed over to the Library of Congress. Films for the library will be selected by experts.

"Today, serious contracts are being signed at the International forum, we too have signed a not less important agreement which is going to become Russia’s platform for cooperation in this area with such an important partner as the United States", - stressed V. Kozhin at the ceremony of the agreement’s signing.

According to A. P. Vershinin the agreement is "one of examples of private-public partnership in the field of the cultural heritage protection". "We are creating prerequisites and determining the rules of the informational exchange, international as well", - he added.

The agreement will become a continuation of work of the Presidential library and the Library of Congress within the framework of reached arrangements on cooperation in the field of interaction of national cultures with other libraries, museums and archives of Russia and the USA.

Memorandum “On cooperation between the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library and the Library of Congress" was signed on October 15 2009 as a result of the Second meeting of the Russian-American Working group.

Such kind of cooperation provided opportunities for documents’ exchange between Russia and the USA. What is more, the collaboration between the Presidential Library and the Library of Congress will facilitate the development of the World Digital Library project.

The Library of Congress is the major library worldwide. At the end of 2007 its holdings was made up of 138, 313 million storage units in 460 languages of the world, among them 20,8 million books and 11,5 million other prints, as well as 61,4 million manuscripts, 14,8 million microfilms, 12,5 million photographs, 5,3 million geographical maps and 1,2 million films.

It was the President’s of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin decision to set up the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg. In February 2007 he signed the relevant order. It was announced in the message to the Federal Assembly on April 26 2007. Vladimir Putin came up with a proposal to name the library after the first President of the Russian Federation Boris N. Yeltsin.

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library is located in the building of the Synod on Senate Square in St. Petersburg. On September 1 2009 the library was opened for regular visits.

In accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation of June 18 2007 the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library will open its branches in every region of the Russian Federation.

Youth point of view for adult problems. Youth International Economic Forum started in St. Petersburg. This year it will be held in the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library for the first time. Among attendees are young businessmen, entrepreneurs and even scholars from Russia, USA, Germany, India and Slovakia. On the whole over 200 people aged from 18 to 30, not older. According to its organizers’ idea the forum will become a sort of firing pad for the formation of youth business community in Russia. Each participant can express himself in the ‘brain storm’ format. In order to simplify things, the attendees will be divided into teams of 25 persons. Experts are expecting the event will produce novel non-standard ideas.

Petrozavodsk, June 7. The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library signed a cooperation agreement with Karelia, reports the library’s press service.

Today Director General of the Presidential Library, Alexander P. Vershinin, and the Head of the Republic of Karelia, Sergei L. Katanandov, signed a Cooperation Agreement on setting up the Presidential library’s branch in the Republic.

Karelia will become another region of Russia to officially join the program on foundation of the Presidential Library’s regional centers.

“By signing this agreement we lay the foundations for the gradual collaboration in the information area and creation of the Presidential Library’s regional center in the near future”, - Alexander P. Vershinin said at the end of the ceremony.

Signing of the agreement is timed to the celebration of the 90th foundation anniversary of the Republic of Karelia.

In accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation of June 18 2007 branches of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library should be set up in every region of the Russian Federation.

The inauguration ceremony of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential library in St. Petersburg at the restored building of Synod kicked off on May 27 2009. Reconstruction and restoration works of the Synod building which covers the area of 17,000 square meters was completed within 2 years. The new complex with a total area of 7,000 square meters aimed at the central conference hall and multimedia center was built into the complex of buildings.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library branches will be created in the RF regions, - reported the Library Director General Alexander Vershinin at a meeting of the Council under the RF President authorized representative in the Far Eastern Federal District.

He underlined that today the Presidential Library disposes of the most modern systems in Russia for digital information preservation; its objective is to retrieve the information from different sources and make it available to every Russian citizen so that the population could benefit from the diversity of knowledge accumulated in our country.

Another objective is to provide the information on the Russian statehood. At the present there is being created the Library branch network in various Russian regions. Magadan region governor N. Dudov has told about an interesting experience. In his region a branch is to open soon and by the end of the year the locals will be able to access the Presidential Library holdings.

V. Ishayev, the RF President authorized representative in the Far Eastern Federal District said:

- We obtain the opportunity to use the database of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library while the Library in its turn gets access to our holdings. Of course, the most important thing is to covert the base into digital format. If we solve these problems, all the Russians will benefit from it. I think that the direction has understood all the significance of the issue. There has always been a shortage of means allocated for culture, but there are some federal development programs and we will do our best to be included.

Students and lawyers of the St. Petersburg State University became one of the first in Russia to access the resources of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. Today the Electronic Reading Room was opened at the University’s Faulty of Law. Priceless old manuscripts, academic articles, maps and of course books on history and theory of law totaling 50,000 virtual volumes will be at the disposal of future lawyers. The Electronic Reading Room will free students, graduates and teachers of the St. Petersburg State University and other universities of the necessity to travel to the archives and libraries. One can either read or view the unique books in 3D format. This Electronic Reading Room at the State University is the first for the Presidential library but not last. Its director confessed that there were a lot of requests submitted by many Russian Universities.

Presidential Library celebrates its first birthday anniversary

On May 27 together with St. Petersburg residents, who celebrate the Day of the City, all librarians of Russia celebrate their professional holiday. It was on this very day that a year ago the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library was grandly opened in the historical building of Synod. The ceremony, which was opened by the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry A. Medvedev, brought together senior state officials, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, representatives of the public and journalists. We asked Yelena D. Zhabko, Presidential library’s Deputy Director General, Doctor of Pedagogics, to outline the results of the first year’s work of this remarkable library institution.

The Presidential library — is a national repository of primary sources converted into electronic format. The library’s holdings include books, photo albums, maps, archival documents on the history of Russia, many of them being earlier out of reach for the most people of Russia. The first year of the library’s work was marked by such important events, like donation by the VTB Bank a collection of rare books and priceless editions covering the time of 16th c. — first half of the 20th c., as well as meetings of the EurAsEC Interstate Council and the Supreme Body of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which took place in December 2009. Yelena Zhabko however stressed that the most important event was the library’s opening for regular visits on September 1 2009.

Among patrons of the Electronic Reading Room are Candidates and Doctors of Sciences, graduates and students as well as senior pupils and other groups of people, who take interest to the history of Russia, theory and practice of the Russian statehood in educational purposes. Library has all the facilities enabling to render services to a large number of patrons. Sixty people can simultaneously work at the Electronic Reading Room. Each working seat provides latest computer equipment, which enables patrons to view electronic documents in 2D and 3D formats.

Internet users may also browse Presidential library’s collections online countrywide. Its official website (www.prlib.ru) offers free simultaneous multi-user access (up to 10 000 users) to 25% of library’s materials.

The website provides access to 10 000 full-text documents. What is more the number of documents available online is constantly increasing. Today the total number of documents on the library’s website amounts to about 42 000 items. The library’s website also familiarizes users with the news, and the “Day in History” section with reference to materials from the holdings of the Presidential Library.

It is quite easy to become a reader of the Presidential library. For the familiarization visit a person needs to have a passport and fill in the reader’s form. In this case the visitor gets a demonstration library card, which is meant for getting acquaintance with the Presidential Library’s resources within one day. Every Russian Federation citizen who reached the age of 18 and has a permanent or a temporary residence in St. Petersburg or Leningrad oblast can become a regular patron of the Presidential Library. To receive a regular nominal library card a person should submit a written application from work or an educational institution. Unemployed persons may submit personal written application. Samples of applications and reader’s form are available on the Presidential library’s website.

When speaking about the Synod historical building which houses the Presidential library Yelena Dmitrievna stressed: “The Synod historical building is a solid foundation that helps to implement the fundamental goals of acquisition and providing open access to resources on history, theory and practice of the Russian statehood, Russian language as a state language of the Russian Federation”.

In respect of the Russian Orthodox Church Yelena Dmitrievma highlighted that “already three session of the Holy Synod have been held at the Library since its opening”.

The Presidential Library represents a considerable number of documents related to the Orthodox Church. A case in point, if you type a key word “orthodoxy”, you will get about 850 references to relevant documents. It’s up to the user to choose. For instance, the report of the bishop Andrei (Ukhtomsky) at the 4th missionary congress in Kiev entitled “On the normal state of orthodoxy in the orthodox Russian state”, issued in 1908. Whereas the searched “Synod” word will deliver 87 results.

“At the same time we look forward for expanding these sources both via the holdings of orthodox libraries and archives, and with a support of other confessions, who made contribution to foundation and development of the Russian statehood”, - concluded Yelena D. Zhabko.

Alexandr Burov

On May 6, 2010 as a part of the 65th anniversary of Great Victory celebrations the members of ‘M-ART’ multimedia youth studio under St. Petersburg Youth Art Palace will present ‘Letters from battlefront’ in the Boris Yeltsin Presidential library multimedia hall.

The film by the members of ‘M-ART’ multimedia youth studio has already joined the Presidential Library ‘Memory of Great Victory’ electronic collection. The DVD of the film will be presented to St. Petersburg schools’ directors with a view to involve school groups into realization of similar multimedia projects, states the report sent to VZGLYAD newspaper.

E. Smolina, Presidential Library scientific secretary, noted: ‘It is important that during the preparation for the project children had been involved into research work. Historical material from different family archives had been collected such as letters and photos of the war time and the memories of relatives had been registered. Owing to the unique technical features of the Presidential Library these multimedia materials will now be accessible for general public’.

The material is presented in modern multimedia form including the expressive means of animation and author’s dubbing of pictures: studio members tell their family tales of the Great Patriotic war of 1941-1945. Children not only collected the material but created themselves their multimedia blocks united by a single scenario and the name ‘Letters from the battlefront’. According to the project initiators its main objective was the informal approach in recreation of historical memory among the young generation via their family and kin bonds.

‘Touching and deeply moving stories about destinies of relatives who underwent many severe trials of the most bloody war in the human history are dubbed with voices of children who are the authors of the project’, - says the project initiator, the Head of ‘M-ART’ studio Olga Kostyuchenko.

The relatives of young authors, schools directors, heads and teachers of multimedia sub-departments of St. Petersburg institutes were invited to the presentation. Among the guests will be S. G. Mikayelyan, a film director whose movie was shown to the event participants. Children will receive letters of thanks from the Presidential Library and memorable badges in honor of the 65th anniversary of Victory Day for their contribution to the preservation of history.

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library has launched its new electronic collection entitled “The Great Victory Memory” including over 2,000 war-time documents, which is available on the library’s website.

"The electronic collection marks the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. From now on all Internet users have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the most part of the collection on the library’s website www.prlib.ru. All the documents are available at the Electronic Reading Rooms of the Presidential Library and regional centers", - library’s press service announced to ITAR-TASS. The collection includes books, collected stories, historiography, newspapers, documentary newsreel fragments, photographs, posters, and leaflets. These are mostly materials covering the period from 1941 to 1945. More than 20 Russian and foreign organizations paid contribution to the development of the collection. Among them is the Foreign Policy Archive of the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Library of Congress, the British Society for Russian studies, Books of Besieged City Museum of St. Petersburg, the Russian State Historical Archives and the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive. The selection of documents was made by experts.

All the documents have been divided into 6 thematic sections: “Allies of World War II”, “The power of Russian arms: Battle operations in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”, “People’s volunteer corps in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”, “Fatherland defenders: Alive and fallen”, “Agitation during the War”, “War on the pages of regional and battlefront press”. “Agitation during the War” section will arouse keen interest of the general public. It represents leaflets and posters, agitation pamphlets, satirical texts, which were called to encourage frontline soldiers. In the “People’s volunteer corps in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945” apart from documents of WWII, special attention is brought to those regarding the Patriotic War of 1812, which unveil traditions of People’s volunteer corps. The collection provides the annotated guide to online resources related to the Great Patriotic War.

The Chairman of the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Sergey M. Mironov has become a full-fledged patron of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential library. “BaltInfo” correspondent informs, that Sergey Mironov received a library card, and also followed a traditional excursion tour, where he familiarized himself with the history of the building. Sergey Mironov visited the Boris Yeltsin Presidential library within the framework of his working visit to St. - Petersburg. “What has been done for the library is unique”, - Mr Mironov stressed. He highlighted that the Council of Federation could hold a forum or a conference in the library’s Conference hall. The speaker of the Council of Federation presented a book to the library. “This is a unique edition in a leather binding entitled “History of two capitals”, - Sergei Mironov explained.

The Russian-U.S. inter-parliamentary group session on cooperation “Council of Federation – U.S. Senate” will kick off in Washington on April 18-22. Its participants are going to discuss the ratification of a new strategic arms reduction treaty, which had been signed by the Presidents of both countries.

"We are planning to exchange opinions with our American colleagues on prospects for the ratification," said Mikhail Margelov, co-chairman of the group, Head of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of Russia.

Mr Margelov said that the Russian delegation would include members of the Federation Council, experts, international scholars, and representatives of the business community of Russia. “We are also going to discuss results of “nuclear summit”, he added.

On April, 19 within the framework of the session a presentation of the Buryat Republic will be launched at the Library of Congress. It will bring together Russian and American senators, the President of Buryatia - Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn, the Director General of the PLC “Special Economic Zones” Igor Kosov, the Director General of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library Alexander Vershinin, and the Ambassador of Russia to the USA Sergei Kislyak.

The function’s program will also include business meetings with the Board of Directors and members of the U.S. - Russia Business Council (USRBC), the Transatlantic-Russian Business Council on Buryatia and US Cooperation in humanitarian and economic sectors.

The experts from Komi Republic National Library: G. A. Issar, Director Deputy for Informatization and K.I. Leongard, Scan Sector Head, have undergone a one-week training in the Presidential Library.

The main objectives for visiting the third National Library of Russia were to obtain an integral notion of the Presidential Library activities and study the possibilities for creation of its branch in Komi.

According to the information provided by the National Library to ‘Kominform’, the program of the training was very rich: within the five-day period the Komi librarians have familiarized with 15 departments of the Presidential Library including the most numerous one – the Scan Center. This department is the first and the essential one in the process of the Presidential Library holdings development. Here thousands of unique documents unavailable for readers in their traditional way, are converted into digital form.

Let us remind you, that the Presidential Library was created in 2007 under the instruction of the RF President. Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library is one of the three national libraries of the Russian Federation. Its founder is the Government of the Russian Federation. The Presidential Library holdings include electronic copies of the most rare historical documents and books as well as little known archive materials which were previously inaccessible for the general public. The Library branches which are being created in different regions of Russia, will also provide access to this information and develop the Presidential Library funds with electronic copies of documents on their local history.

“The 3rd Public and Educational Forum entitled “Education in Russia: traditions and challenges of modern times”, organized by the Interregional Public Foundation “National Glory Center” jointly with the St. Petersburg State University and the Russian State Pedagogical University n. a. A. I. Herzen kicked off in St. Petersburg.

Within the framework of the plenary session reports were delivered by: Rector of the Russian State Pedagogical University n. a. A. I. Herzen G. A. Bordovsky, Head of the Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications M. V. Seslavinsky, President of the Russian Academy of Education N. D. Nikandrov, Chairman of the RF Union of Journalists V. L. Bogdanov, Director General of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library A. P. Vershinin.”

Great grandson of Paul Cezanne – Philip, came to Russia for the first time to attend the conference on the influence of his eminent ancestor’s art on the world and Russian painting development.

The international conference ‘Russia and “Global Effect of Cezanne”, 1900-1950’ opened today in the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St. Petersburg. The event is organized on the initiative of the State Hermitage and Pyotr Konchalovsky Fund in cooperation with art historians from Russia, France, England, Germany, USA, Japan, Argentine and many other countries.

The organizers believe that ‘the subject of the conference is quite actual today due to the increase of interest for the personality and art of Paul Cezanne’.

The conference program has been developed by Denis Coutagne, Doctor of art history, professor, Chief Curator of French museums direction. The event was opened by the address of Paul Cezanne who does a lot in regards of preservation of the heritage of the great painter.

‘It is not always easy to bear the family name of such a great man, - confessed Philip Cezanne. – But my ancestor was quite a modest man, and he would be very flattered by such an attention to his personality’. He reminded that ‘Paul Cezanne had a great impact on the creative work of his contemporaries and the painters of following generations. Especially it is evident in the works of Russian painters of the beginning of 20th century who could see Cezanne’s paintings during their trips to France and also in collections formed by Maecenas S. Shchukin and I. Morozov’.

Representatives from 10 different countries will be speaking during 3-day conference. About 300 attendees are expected. As the organizers state ‘such a variety of states – participants, the invited guests and information technologies are contributing to the fact that the event is the first of the kind in the history of the world art history on this topic’.

In the near two or three years the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library’s branches will be opened in all oblasts of the region, announced the authorized representative of the RF President in the North-Western Federal District I. I. Khlebanov. Together with the Head of Karelia Republic and the governor of Novgorod region he visited the Electronic Reading Room. Sergei Katanandov positively appreciated latest technologies and added that the Presidential library’s branch in Petrozavodsk would be founded at the central library. For these reasons it is necessary to allocate 25 million rubles, however Ilya Khlebanov stressed that the Presidential library was ready to provide assistance to regions.

The Russian Federation statesmen congratulated the Public Prosecutor’s Office employees gathered in the Presidential Library conference hall. Among them the Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika, the Constitutional Court Chairman Valery Zor’kin, the Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov. In his address Yuri Chaika marked a special role of the Public Prosecutor’s office in the modern life.

RF Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika:

‘From the first years of formation of St. Petersburg Public Prosecutor’s Office, the work order has been based on the principles of strict observance of law regardless conjuncture. These principles determined its development during the following decade. It is hard to tell how many human destinies have been saved by efforts of the city Prosecutor’s Office employees, how many people have been protected from lawlessness’.

Fourteen best Public Prosecutor’s Office employees were conferred the awards. Others received letters of commendation.